THREE villages will be left without a bank when the only branch serving them shuts next year.

Barclays is closing its Kelvedon office on February 11, which will also affect Feering and Coggeshall.

The nearest branches will be Tiptree, Witham, Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester.

A spokesman said Barclays occasionally shut branches where there were few customers.

She said: “The decision to close Kelvedon branch has not been taken lightly and we appreciate it may inconvenience some customers.

“We will work hard to minimise the impact on customers and will help them with the change to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible.

“Personal customers are able to pay in and take cash out over the counter at their local post office free of charge.

“There will be no job losses from this closure – all staff will be relocated to other local branches.”

Kelvedon Parish Council chairman Craig Martin feared it could be a “slippery slope” to other businesses leaving the village.

“We are lucky because we have still got the post office in the village store, so that’s fine, and we still have a couple of pubs as well,” he said.

“But one thinks that might be the slippery slope.

“In terms of people getting cash that’s OK, but obviously there are a lot of businesses that use that branch and the parish council does have some dealings with Barclays Bank.”

People do not always use telephone or internet banking either and there would be times when they needed to physically speak to someone in the branch, he added.

Hazel Picknell-Stride, chairman of Coggeshall Chamber of Trade, said: “I use Barclays in Kelvedon for the carnival because I have to pay in all the street collection, which is several hundred pounds in pennies and it is a pain to take it further afield as it is because you have got to be able to park outside a bank because you can’t carry all that amount in.”

Kelvedon Parish Council will discuss the bank closure next month.