Hadleigh to become third in the area to have no bank

Another town is to lose its last bank - joining two neighbouring towns in south Essex without any local branches.

Lloyds is to leave Hadleigh in September, leaving it in the same position as Benfleet and Thundersley.

A priest in the Hadleigh said it was "really disappointing" and was going to make "life very hard" for some people.

Lloyds Banking Group, which is closing 60 branches across the UK, said it had seen "far fewer people" visit the Hadleigh branch over several years.

The Reverend Ruth Cartwright, priest in charge at St James and St Barnabas churches in Hadleigh, said it had been hoped Lloyds would stay as it was the "last one standing".

She said although many people used the internet and their phone apps for banking, there was a "sector of the population who don't feel comfortable doing that".

"Even those of us who do bank on the internet do need to go into a bank occasionally, so, yes, we may not need banks in every centre of population, but to not have any banks in Hadleigh, Benfleet and Thundersley - that's a large area where many, many people live," she added.

Lloyds said transactions at the Hadleigh branch fell by 67% between 2017 and 2021, and then fell by a further 15% in 2021.

It said customers chose to do their banking in "different ways", including online and mobile.

However, it said when the branch closes on 14 September, customers could continue to bank in person with the company at the local Post Office.

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