TWO MAJOR bank branches are to close.

Barclays Bank sent letters to customers this morning to inform them of the news.

The Bank confirmed, when contacted by the T&A, that its branches in Cleckheaton and Brighouse will close later this year.

The branch in Northgate, in Cleckheaton, will shut in three months time, on Friday, May 29.

Meanwhile, the Brighouse branch, in Briggate, will close its doors on Friday, June 5.

The King Cross Road Barclays Bank, in Halifax, will also shut - on Friday, June 12 - but there will still be a branch in the town centre.

A Barclays spokesperson said: "At Barclays in Cleckheaton, Brighouse and Halifax King Cross branches, customer usage has continued to decline and more than 75 per cent of our customers at all locations now regularly use online and telephone banking."

The move means both Cleckheaton and Brighouse will be without a Barclays branch come the summer.

The next nearest option for Cleckheaton customers will be to travel at least 4.9 miles to the Dewsbury branch.

For people who use the Brighouse Barclays Bank, it will be a slightly shorter trip of at least 4.4 miles into Huddersfield.

Many have responded in outrage at the decision on social media website, Facebook.

A number of people complained that they should not just be expected to online bank.

The Barclays spokesperson said: "The number of physical Barclays branches will reduce overall but our branch network and the colleagues who work in them remain a vital part of our offering.

"With customers visiting our branches less and less each year, we must constantly assess how and why our branches are used and make decisions based on that insight.

"We hope that the availability of our nearby Barclays branches along with our range of telephone and digital channels will help to ease the transition for our customers."