Plans by the Royal Bank of Scotland to close its branch in Newtown St Boswells have been described as a disaster for the village.
RBS confirmed to The Southern today (Wednesday, March 26) that the branch will be one of three closing in June, with the others being those in Greenlaw and Chirnside.
The latter two are set to shut their doors for the last time on June 18, while the Newtown branch will close on June 25.
RBS says the decision to close the three branches was made following the drop in customer numbers, and has promised to work with local Post Offices and a new mobile van to try and limit the effect to customers.
But local newsagent, Eoin Frame, says the news is a bombshell.
“This will be a disaster for the village and is a real blow after the loss of the Post Office branch not so long ago. “A lot of people don’t use online banking and, as a result, I think a considerable number of local RBS customers will probably switch to the Bank of Scotland which also has a branch in the village.”
Asked about job losses as a result of the closures, RBS said there would be no redundancies and staff would be redeployed to other branches in the area.
Full story on local reaction to the news in tomorrow’s issue of The Southern Reporter.