A sign on the glass doors of Lloyds Bank in Atherton’s market square says the branch closed today at 3pm. But customers shivering in the queue for the cash machine outside know the branch will soon shut forever, leaving not one bank for miles around.
The Wigan town was once home to a dozen banks, including NatWest, Santander and RBS. Over the last four years all but one have shut.
And in March the last remaining bank will go the same way, after Lloyds announced it is among 44 branches to go in the latest round of closures. READ MORE: Asda, Iceland, Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and M&S: We visited six major supermarkets to see if people were wearing masks More and more communities are losing the only bank in town, creating so-called 'bank deserts',
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