A CLOSING Caversham bank has come under fire from the MP for Reading East.

On August 3 Lloyds Banking announced they would be closing their Caversham branch due to the number of regular weekly customers hit a low of 26.

The move came as Lloyds committed to closing 400 branches by the end of 2017 despite posing a 101 per cent increase in pre-tax profits for the last half year.

Several days after the announcement Reading East MP Rob Wilson launched a scathing attack towards the 251 year-old institution.

“This is likely to be deeply unpopular with loyal customers who, as things stand, will have their accounts realigned to the Broad Street branch in central Reading,” Mr Wilson said.

“The decision smacks of deep discourtesy and dangerous complacency from Lloyds, which should not simply presume that account holders will accept these changes and continue to use its services.

“If Lloyds doesn’t feel that it’s in the bank’s interest to support Caversham, then I don’t see why local people should continue to support Lloyds.”

The MP went on to say that he would meet with Lloyds representatives to discuss the matter.

Lloyds have been closing physical branches since 2014 in response to a steady decrease in footfall and as customers opt to bank online.

A spokesperson from Lloyds said: “The number of personal customers using the Caversham branch is going down each year by 11%.

“Customers will have their accounts realigned to Broad Street, Reading, which is around a mile away, and there will be no other impact to the way they manage their accounts.

“We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause and have informed customers of the closest alternative branches.”

An email sent from Lloyds and published by Mr Wilson stated that the branch closure is not expected to 'result in compulsory job losses', with most staff moved to other Lloyds branches, but a 'small number of role reductions' through 'voluntary redundancies'.