New Romney’s First Citizen became the last customer at the town’s NatWest bank.

Mayor Patricia Rolfe visited the High Street branch on Tuesday at 3.30pm to make a deposit just as it was about to close permanently.

The branch, which has been in the town since 1961, is going as part of a general wave of shutdowns by leading banks.

Cllr Rolfe was served by staff member Heather Isted,corr who worked in the branch for 35 years and was also marking her silver wedding anniversary.

Cllr Rolfe said: “It was very, very sad. The photograph taken shows myself and staff smiling but in our hearts were all grieving for the loss of this community service.”

The closure leaves Lloyds, also on the High Street, as the only bank branch serving all 100 square miles of Romney Marsh.

New Romney Town Council had been at the forefront of a wave of protests after the shutdown was announced in August.

Cllr Rolfe had particularly argued that the closure would affect the elderly who did not have access to the internet, for online banking as an alternative, or a car to travel miles to the next branch.

The council had written to both the bank’s complaints department and Chancellor George Osborne as the banking group is three-quarters owned by the taxpayer.

NatWest’s parent company, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, argued that transactions at the New Romney branch had dropped by 22% since 2011.

It said that on-site transactions had fallen in general and been replaced by a rise in online and mobile banking.

Because of this NatWest in Headcorn, near Maidstone, also closed, today (Thursday)Nov 26.
The NatWest cash machine will stay at New Romney and the nearest branch now is nine miles away at Hythe.

Customers can instead use the Post Office at Spar in New Romney High Street.