ANOTHER East Lancashire bank will be axed as finance chiefs claim customers are preferring to handle their accounts online.


One of the main banks in Bacup - Nat West - has announced it intends to close its Market Street branch from March next year, amid suggestions that footfall has dropped by more than 50 per cent.


The move follows confirmation that the Co-operative Bank has pulled out of Colne, with its Albert Road branch closing this week.


Nat West already closed its Haslingden branch in October 2013, as Barclays also moved out of the Rossendale town last January.


Bosses say that a cash machine will still be left at the axed Bacup branch. From next spring their Rawtenstall premises will be their only presence in the Rossendale valley.


And an agreement has been drawn up with the Post Office, which has a branch at the top of Burnley Road, to use their facilities to withdraw cash, check balances and make deposits.


Nat West spokesman Sarah Williams said: "Our branches are still very important to us and we’ll continue to have one of the largest branch networks in the UK. 


"Eighty per cent of our customers are within a three-mile radius of a branch, and when you include the Post Office network that rises to 90 per cent of our customers being within one-mile of a place where they can carry out their every day banking."


The bank has insisted that customers can make appointments with staff to discuss their future arrangements, if they have any concerns.


And confirming the Colne closure, Paul Denton, the Co-op's branch network head, said: "This decision was not taken lightly and was subject to careful analysis where we sought to keep the impact upon customers, who are our main priority, to a minimum. 


"We remain committed to our branch network which is an integral part of our overall customer service offer moving forwards.


"However we are making these changes in support of our business plan to return the bank to a position of strength, and in response to the increasing customer demand for digital enhancements in the UK retail banking market."


The nearest branches now for customers are in Burnley or Keighley.