A TADLEY bank is set to close later this year, as a major company announces it will be shutting 44 of its UK branches.

Lloyds has said 29 Lloyds Bank and 15 Halifax branches will close, adding that customers were carrying out “significantly” fewer transactions at these locations.

Vim Maru, retail director for Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We’ve also seen our digital banking customers grow by over four million in five years, to almost 18 million, of which 13.6 million also choose to be active app users.

“This means that, like many businesses on the high street, we must change for a future where branches will be used in a different way, and visited less often."

The decision has been met with significant backlash, with trade union Unite branding it a a “bitter blow” to staff and customers and accusing the bank of “walking away” from local communities.

Unite national officer Caren Evans said: “The decision by Lloyds to further erode its presence within our communities is baffling.

"A local ATM is not a suitable alternative to a staffed bank branch.

“The closure of 44 more bank branches will deny our communities essential services such as access to cash and experienced highly trained staff.

Among the 44 affected branches will be the Tadley branch on Aldermaston Road, meaning customers will now have to travel Basingstoke or Newbury to access a branch.

It comes just two months after Barclays also announced it would be shutting its Tadley branch from July.

Lloyds said of the closures announced on Wednesday (June 23) that more than a third are branches situated in or around cities and large towns with another branch “very close by”.

It added that across the group’s branches, transactions have fallen 10 per cent a year in the five years to March 2020, and significantly further in the year since.

Nine out of 10 customers have a branch within five miles of their home, it said.

Vim Maru said: “We’ll continue to invest in our high street presence, as this week we’re opening a new concept Bank of Scotland branch in Edinburgh, the only bank to take up residence in the new St James Quarter.

“Importantly, we’ll continue to give our customers a choice in how they bank, with branches sitting alongside telephone banking, online and mobile banking, our video appointment services, our cashback through local shops programme, our participation in the industry BankHUB cash initiative and 11,500 post offices, at which our customers can bank and access cash.”

Martin McTague, vice chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, added: “Communities across England and Wales will be feeling a new wave of disappointment today, with the announcement of these closures coming fresh off a devastating delay to the June reopening.

“Bank branches are not only critical to those who still depend on cash – often society’s most vulnerable – they also serve as a draw for shoppers, meaning footfall for surrounding small businesses.”

An exact closing date for each branch is yet to be revealed, but it is expected to occur by the end of 2021.

You can view the full list of Lloyds branches which will close here.