‘I didn’t think I’d live to see this day, it's diabolical’

Worries for older people and fears of being scammed are among the issues customers expressed after ‘diabolical’ decisions were made to close a town’s final two bank branches.

By the end of May, Farnworth, Bolton borough’s second biggest town, will be left without a single bank branch.

Last week, in what was described as a ‘body blow’ to the high street, Natwest announced the closure of its Market Street premises, which will shut its doors on May 15.

That loss was compounded earlier this week when Lloyds, around 100 metres away on the same street, said it would also close on May 28. Just across the road from the doomed bank branches, Farnworth is undergoing unprecedented regeneration.

Developers Capital & Centric have almost completed the Farnworth Green complex described as a ‘re-boot’ of an outdated precinct into a town centre neighbourhood. That development will have 85 one and two bedroom flats and 12 family homes, space for bars, cafés and independent stores, a ground floor community hub and a new public square.

Roads and pavements along Market Street are also currently being improved in a bid to make the town centre more attractive. And, with the regeneration ongoing, the bank closure announcements have led to impassioned pleas for them to be saved.

Ward councillor Sue Haworth has urged the banks’ management to reconsider the closure. She said: “This is now a double whammy body blow for Farnworth and most unwelcome.

“There’s no mention from the banks of the sizeable transformation going on in the town centre at the present time. “There are new apartments, new houses, roads changes, pavements changes, new community hub and new commercial units.”

She added: “I ask the boards of NatWest and Lloyds to allow a reprieve