Essex villagers have been left in shock after the announcement rural branches of Barclays Bank will be axed.

Coggeshall, Dedham, Sible Hedingham, Hatfield Peverel and Thaxted are among the areas to lose their only bank.

Villagers have reacted angrily to the the news, with the decision described as "another nail in the coffin for country life."

Barclays announced 200 of its smaller branches would be closing nationwide on Friday and said it was no longer viable to keep them open because of the changing face of banking, such as internet banking.

But district councillor for Coggeshall, Nigel Edey, said the decision was making life more difficult for people living in the country.

He said: "There is a lot of disappointment and frustration. It is yet another nail in the coffin for rural life and is making life very difficult."

A spokeswoman for Barclays said staff from the branches would take voluntary redundancy or be redeployed in other areas.

In a statement Barclays said: "We have looked very carefully at each of the individual closing branches, but believe that it is no longer viable for us to keep them open."

Five years ago 56 per cent of people said they used a branch for day to day transactions. Today that figure has now fallen to just 36 per cent. Barclays aims to provide a wide choice for customers and this means providing cash machines, Internet and telephone banking alongside a significant branch network."

Clive Tanner, Conservative district councillor for Sible Hedingham, said villagers were angry.

He said: "I understand that the face of banking is changing but this does not help us out in the rural areas. Old people do not use the Internet to bank.

"They do not seem to care about small communities. People are concerned about where they are to pay their benefits in and draw cash out. It is very sad."

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