THE last remaining bank branch outside of Chester city centre will close its doors for good next month.

Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed that its Upton branch on Weston Grove will permanently shut on October 14.

The premises was originally due to close on May 13 but has remained open during the coronavirus lockdown.

The Standard reported back in March how more than 800 people had signed a petition launched by business owner Linda Shepherd in a bid to save the branch from closure.

Chester MP Chris Matheson and local councillor Jill Houlbrook both wrote to the banking group's chief executive officer to raise their concern and call for a rethink.

Lloyds Banking Group say their customers’ needs are changing with the majority of people now using internet and mobile banking.

A customer, who has been left disappointed by the decision to axe the branch next month, wrote to The Standard to say: "It has been the rock of the community during lockdown, saving all local business and elderly people by remaining open for them the whole time.

"And now Lloyds have decided to close it down totally on 14th October leaving local elderly and disabled no choice but to go into Chester.

"How will the elderly and disabled manage?"

As part of an in-depth review into the Upton branch, Lloyds Banking Group found that its personal customer counter transactions are down 8% on last year and usage is 68% less than a typical Lloyds bank branch.

The report said: "Branches will remain vital in meeting customers’ needs but we must continually review our network to make sure we have branches in locations where customers need and use them the most.

"As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to close this branch due to customers using it less often. In addition, the majority of customers are also using alternative ways to bank and we have another branch close by."

The review also revealed that "a number of both personal and business customers expressed their frustration that the branch was

closing along with concerns that this would affect the way they carried out their banking".