Whaley Bridge is now a town without a bank. The last branch – Royal Bank of Scotland at Horwich End – closed for the final time on Thursday 27 August, just ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend. As one of the last customers remarked: “Now it will be Bank Holiday every day!”

In recent years, Horwich End RBS had been open only on three mornings a week. Customers had inevitably dwindled, with younger ones going on line and others using more and more services at the local post offices.

Gone for ever !

Anyone can now draw money against a debit card from the post office, and pay in cash and cheques, and pay some bills. Customers can also check their account balance through the post office. So far, there are no facilities for paying bills using the Giro system.

RBS say that all services are available at the nearest branch at 9 Market Street, Chapel en le Frith, SK23 0HL.

A local historian had given Horwich End staff a print of a photo from around the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, showing the row of buildings where the RBS branch had existed in recent years. The historic print showed a classic village row of small shops, with very little traffic on what is now a busy crossroads.