ALTHOUGH Pewsey will lose its sole bank after Lloyds announced the village's branch will close in July, the post office say they are ready to help customers with their banking needs.

The banking giant announced last week that around 100 branches across the UK will close between July and October as not enough branch transactions were taking place.

Lloyds confirmed this week that the High Street branch will close on July 3, much to the disappointment of local businesses and hundreds of customers, many of whom do not have online banking, however the post office in North Street are ready to help people as much as possible.

Kevin Crane, postmaster at Pewsey Post Office, said that customers can withdraw cash with their debit cards, they can deposit cash but must have a deposit slip and cheques can be deposited by customers must have a separate deposit slip

"I want to reassure people that we will help people as much as we can to make things as easy as possible and we will work with Lloyds while they are still open," he said.

"Everyone is sorry to see it go but I think most people realise if you do not use banks they will go, a bit like post offices. The elderly and those without transport will be hit hard by this but

"Lloyds did not tell us about this. We found out on BBC News and news gets around Pewsey in about three seconds. Anyone is welcome to come to us, a lot of Lloyds customers use us already."

Lloyds said that around 67 per cent of their customers in Pewsey use other branches and other ways to bank such as online and telephone banking and around 73 per cent of their customers already use other branches such as the one in Marlborough.

They added that the number of counter transactions in 2016 fell by 15 per cent in the Pewsey branch and that customers will have their accounts realigned to Marlborough, and there will be no other impact to the way they manage their accounts.

A Lloyds spokesman said: "We have confirmed the closure of the Lloyds Bank Pewsey branch on July 3. We have made the difficult decision to close these branches due to the changing ways customers choose to bank with us, which has resulted in customers using them less often. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause and have informed customers of the closest alternative branches."

Hundreds of locals took to social media to vent their frustrations at the news of the bank's impending closure too.

There are other cash points by the High Street Co-op, by the Spar, in North Street, and at the Esso garage in Swan Road.