There has been a major backlash to plans to close one of the last banks left in a town centre.

People living on Sheppey have been stunned after TSB revealed it was shutting its branch in High Street, Sheerness.

The move - expected to happen in September - will leave only Nationwide on the Island, which has a population of more than 40,000.

TSB’s decision follows that of HSBC, Barclays, Halifax and NatWest which all quit the town in recent years.

There are fears this will be the “final nail in the coffin” of some businesses which deal only in cash and rely on nearby banking services.

TSB says it has not taken the decision to close the branch “lightly” but points to a 43% decrease in customer transactions in Sheerness between December 2019 and December 2023 as a reason for the move. This period includes the pandemic.

Following the closure news last week, one customer staged a protest outside the bank and asked people to sign a petition.

Gerry Cunningham told KentOnline how he launched the action at 9.30am on Friday and had more than 643 signatures by 3.30pm.

Then by the end of Saturday, the 65-year-old had 1,007 names in what he says will be a six-week campaign to keep the bank in place.

Mr Cunningham, who has lived in nearby Minster for 24 years, has been with TSB for around a year.

The former Abbott Laboratories’ security guard had been a Halifax customer but left after it shut in May last year.

He told KentOnline: “I am doing this for people who aren’t computer literate, disabled people and those who can’t get access to banks face to face.

“When you ring up a bank you’re speaking to someone four or five hundred miles away.

“With TSB at the moment you can go in and talk to someone and the staff are very polite and it’s what customers need.

“It can brighten up your day just saying hello to them in there; they are that friendly.

“It’s just wrong. The banks are going, the shops are going, and before we know it Sheerness will become a ghost town.”

He added he will not be changing banks and will have to travel 23 miles to Chatham or 33 miles to Bluewater to use a TSB.

One of the petition signatories was Alan Welch, who banks with NatWest which also left the town last May.

The 62-year-old lifelong Sheerness resident says his concern is for the “weaker people in society who are going to suffer” because of the closure.

He said: “It is getting harder and harder to get out cash.

“It’s the final nail in the coffin for banking on the Island. Their main excuse is they aren’t getting footfall but they don’t tell you they are taking the ATM with them as well.

“If I need to talk to someone in person I will have to travel to Sittingbourne to battle through the traffic chaos or go on the train which is an inconvenience.”

The Sheerness Docks’ worker added: “For people who are vulnerable, who might be unable to make that journey, it will be a massive blow to them.”

Charlotte Gruczka, 41, and husband Douglas, 62, are TSB customers and make a 10-mile trip from Warden to use face-to-face services.

They were previously HSBC customers but it left Sheerness in January 2016, although they stayed with it until after the pandemic.

Douglas is in a wheelchair after he broke his back, so travelling long distance is difficult.

Charlotte said: “Me and my husband rely on this bank which we already travel to get to.

“If we have any problems we can come in and talk to someone, or if we have a cheque to pay or need to get money out. To close it is shocking.”

Meanwhile, 74-year-old Pauline Field, who has banked with TSB for 30 years, is in a similar position.

She uses a mobility scooter and gets the bus from Warden to Sheerness to get out cash from the branch but says she will have to change banks.

“I do everything face to face,” Pauline said. “When it closes I will lose the facilities it offers me.

“I don’t even use the ATM as I get my cash over the counter and if I have any problems I can get them sorted straight away.”

TSB announced it was closing Sheerness alongside 36 others across the UK on Wednesday last week.

It says most of its customers are doing their banking digitally and believes the closure will provide a better balance of digital and face-to-face services.

It claims more than 95% of banking transactions are now being made using mobile, online and other ways to bank, instead of in its branches which saw 2.5million fewer transactions than in 2020.

It will leave the group with 175 branches across the country, as well as other face-to-face banking services.

While KentOnline was present on Friday speaking to people in the High Street, a steady stream of customers could be seen using the branch.