Bossess of a major high street bank which has cut opening hours at three Mid Wales branches will not reconsider the move despite protests.

Dozens of campaigners took to the street outside the NatWest in Llanfair Caereinion in protest at the decision to reduce opening hours at the branch and those in Llanidloes and Montgomery.

But the company said it had not taken the decision lightly and would not reinstate the hours.

A NatWest spokeswoman said: “Our sub-branch at Llanfair Caereinion has seen a sustained fall in customer demand but rather than close the branch, we are keen to maintain a presence in the town.

“The difficult decision to reduce the hours in the branch has not been taken lightly and we welcomed the opportunity recently to meet local interested parties to explain the basis for the decision.

Custom

“In addition to the branch service, we offer a full Welsh language telephone banking service between 9am and 5pm and are looking to expand this service later in the year.”

But residents said they felt “let down” by the company with many predicting a loss in business for the bank.

Beryl Johnson, from Montgomery, said: “I have travelled from Montgomery for the protest because I feel strongly about the closures in all three towns.

“I think NatWest will lose a lot of custom.”

Roy Robertson added: “They tell us we can use internet banking but we have poor broadband speeds here and many elderly people don’t trust the internet.”

Roy Powell, of Llanfair Caereinion, said: “I don’t want to do internet banking, I want face-to-face contact.”

Mick Bates, Montgomeryshire AM, led the group of campaigners. He said: “The bank was bailed out by taxpayers’ money and now it has shown no regard whatsoever for these very people by reducing services.

“It is my local branch and I pop in a couple of times a week and I am very angry about the reduced service.

“I was grateful to meet representatives of NatWest but beyond the agreement to amend the one day of service in Montgomery from Wednesday to Thursday, the bank failed to deliver on our concerns.”

By Andrew Morris