COMMUNITY leaders have spoken of their dismay after a bank announced it was axing a market town branch.

NatWest said its branch in Bedale Market Place would close on March 25, leaving the town with two banks, as the number of transactions taking place there had dropped by 20 per cent over the last few years.

It said expected the trend to continue as an increasing number of its customers banked using its mobile app, online, by telephone and its network of cash machines.

A NatWest spokesman said all staff at the branch would be redeployed elsewhere.

He said: "We do understand that some of our customers do not use the internet or mobile phone app and prefer to be served over-the-counter.

"As a result, we have come to an agreement with the local post office, so that customers can withdraw cash, check balances, and make deposits free of charge."

The Mayor of Bedale, Councillor Christine Mollard, said the announcement had come as a blow for the town and for her, as one of the bank's customers.

She said: "I like to speak to people face to face and I'm sure older people do too."

Cllr Mollard said while there was only one empty shop in the Market Place, the town council would be keen to see the prominent Georgian premises taken on by another firm at its next meeting in January.

Bedale councillor Carl Les added: "It is always disappointing when a major institution decides to pull out of a market town."

Other traders and councillors said the decision had not come as a complete surprise as, in recent years, Natwest had reduced the branch's opening times and services.

Councillor John Noone, who has run a printing supplies firm in the town for 29 years, said bank could have seen an upsurge in business following the completion of the numerous housing developments being built in the area.

He said: "There will be quite a lot of people shifting to other banks.

"It is a loss to the town because it is in a prime location in the Market Place.

"I hope that it doesn't become an empty eyesore."