Two more Norfolk towns are to be left with only one bank branch following the announcement of a fresh wave of closures.
Lloyds has said its bank branches in Cromer and North Walsham would shut later this year.
The announcement has sparked outrage from civic figures who have accused the finance giant of ignoring the needs of locals, and in particular, the high number of older people in the towns.
Duncan Baker, North Norfolk MP, said he was "most disappointed" the bank was not running a consultation over the closures.
Mr Baker said: “What is so disappointing about this is, is that there is no corporate responsibility to the customers that they serve. This is an area of the country where a third of everyone is over 65.
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“Their own data sheets show that 64pc of users are over 55 in North Walsham and 70pc are over 55 in Cromer.”
Lloyds says North Walsham’s Market Place branch would close on November 17, leaving the town with Santander as its only bank.
Cromer’s West Street Lloyds is closing on October 25, after which NatWest in Church Street would be the town’s only bank.
Steffan Aquarone, the Liberal Democrats’ prospective parliamentary candidate for North Norfolk, said he was “distraught” to hear Lloyds was pulling out of yet more communities.
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Mr Aquarone said he was backing the establishment of ‘banking hubs’ in such towns, which five high street banks could staff on different days of the week.
He said: “It’s a great shame. I think the banks are missing an opportunity to engage with a robust and resilient local economy.
“We can’t allow communities to keep suffering this managed decline.
“You can’t just say ‘footfall is down 50pc, so we’re going to remove 100pc of services’.
"That’s why a bank hub is such a great idea.”
Closing banks: Lloyds "does not care" about elderly
Mr Baker said after the closures, people who wanted to use a Lloyds bank would have to travel to Norwich or Fakenham.
He said: “It’s a hammer blow yet again for older residents who now have a long journey.
“The banks do not care about the elderly demographic, they purely look at the transaction numbers falling and say therefore, we are going to leave.
“It shows the lack of attention and care they have for our towns”.
The bank said on its website of the Cromer closure: “The world is becoming more digital than ever before and more of our customers are doing their everyday banking online.
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“With more customers choosing to use digital ways to bank and manage their money, visits at this branch have fallen.
“As a result, we've made the difficult decision to close it.”
Lloyds is the country’s largest mortgage lender, and it owns the bank Halifax.
Buoyed by rising interest rates, the firm reported a 46pc jump in pre-tax profit to £2.3bn for the first three months of 2023, £611 million higher than the same period in 2022.
*Mr Baker is running his own consultation over the closures, which can been found online at www.duncanbaker.org.uk/save-our-banks
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