Town's last two banks are to close for good

A council said it hoped banking services would remain accessible in Witham after the closure of the last two banks in the Essex town was announced.

The Halifax and Lloyds Bank branches will close in October.

The banks, both owned by Lloyds Banking Group, said they had completed reviews of how their customers were choosing to bank before the decision was made.

But Witham Town Council said bank closures had a "significant impact" on the community.

Lloyds and Halifax have branches in Braintree, about eight miles (13km) away.

NatWest closed its Witham branch in 2018 and HSBC has also left the town.

Barclays pulled out in 2022 but offers some banking services at Witham Town Hall on Mondays and Fridays.

A spokesman for the town council said the service was "essential for our town".

He added: "The support of our banking partners is vital in ensuring that Witham continues to thrive, and we will work with others if they wish to."

Elsewhere in Essex, a shared banking hub opened in Rochford in 2021.

Customers of any bank can access their accounts there five days a week. A representative from each of the major banks visits once a week to deal with trickier queries.

Cash Access UK, which owns the hubs, estimates it will need to build about 350 of them within the next three years.

"We tend to find ourselves in suburbs or rural communities," chief executive Gareth Oakley told BBC Essex.

"The first ever banking hub we built, which was a pilot, was built in Rochford and it's still there today and it's hugely popular."

Nationwide Building Society has a branch in Witham and will be the last current-account provider with a physical presence in the town.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.