A campaign to bring back banking facilities to Melksham is continuing to push for a shared 'bank hub'.

The move follows a decision by Lloyds, the town’s last ‘big four’ high street bank, to close its Melksham branch on February 15 this year.

Lloyds closed the High Street branch as part of 41 closures nationwide sparked by the dwindling number of customers using the premises.

All the big four high street banks have closed branches across the UK in recent years as millions of customers switch to online banking to access their accounts.

But some customers, such as the elderly and vulnerable, businesses and shopkeepers, say they still prefer to use physical branches.

The only financial institutions left in Melksham are now the Coventry Building Society in the High Street and Nationwide Building Society in Church Street.

Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan recently held unsuccessful talks with the head of retail banking at Lloyds to try and reverse its decision.

Miss Donelan said: “Once it was established that this was not viable and they would not reconsider, I set about ensuring that all of the Post Offices in the surrounding area had the capacity and appropriate training to handle the increased traffic.

“I submitted a community access request to LINK for a bank hub, which is a shared space managed by the Post Office where retail banks hold appointments on specific days."

LINK, which runs a cash access and ATM cashpoint network, has confirmed the town will benefit from new banking deposit services which will be particularly useful for local businesses and shopkeepers.

Miss Donelan said: “This is a big win and will be a boost to our high street. In the meantime, retail customers can continue to pay in cash and cheques, withdraw money, and check their balance at the Post Office.

“I have not given up on my campaign and have written to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to ask if there can be any flexibility in these rules.

“I have also ensured that Melksham remains now on LINK’s approval list, meaning that in the unfortunate event that Nationwide closes, we will automatically get a bank hub.

“I will continue to push hard to ensure that Melksham residents have access to banking services, and I hope to have a further update for you in the near future.”