Earlston Community Council chairman John Paton Day has called for villagers to fight to keep their branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Last Thursday, the bank declared its intention to close two of its Borders branches later this year – the Ayton branch will close on October 22, while six days later, the Earlston branch will close.
The statement from RBS said: “We are working hard to ensure there are a number of alternative ways for people in the area to continue to bank with us.”
But Mr Paton Day said it was “another blow for Earlston”.
He told us: “I’m very unhappy. It’s not good for businesses and it’s not good for the people of Earlston who use the bank.”
An agreement has been reached with both local Post Offices so that RBS customers can check their balance, deposit and withdraw funds, and business customers can get coinage.
There are also free-to-use ATMs close to both branches.
And RBS is introducing a mobile branch service to both communities, and it says it will be “engaging with our customers and the local community to understand the best day and time for the mobile branch to visit.”
Mr Paton Day said: “The bank’s suggestion that we use the post office as an alternative is simply unworkable.
“What I’d like to do is to get a postal campaign started. If I can persuade all affected individuals and businesses to write to the bank’s head office to complain, it will be a start.
“It may not do any good , but we have got to try.”