CARDIGAN’S new mayor has expressed his own concern amid growing disquiet that the days of the town’s Barclays Bank branch may be numbered.

Fears have risen locally in the wake of last week’s announcement that Barclays’ Lampeter branch will shut its doors in August.

Barclays maintain the axing of their branch on Harford Square is due to a fall in customers and transactions.

But now Cllr Trystan Phillips has put forward a passionate argument for the retention of Cardigan’s Barclays, maintaining that the town’s High Street branch is more than just a bank.

“I sincerely hope that what has happened in Lampeter won’t be a similar pattern in other branches,” he told the Tivy-Side.

“The ability to enter the Cardigan branch is a crucial service to many, where online banking is not possible or practical.

“The ability to speak to someone face to face is crucial for many things and for many it is also an important social inter-action, which enhances our social well-being.

“Barclays in Cardigan always appears very busy and popular and that’s testament to the supportive and friendly staff there, so hopefully there will be no reason for that branch to be in jeopardy.”

Cardigan town councillor Clive Davies – a member of Ceredigion County Council’s Cabinet – has urged Ceredigion MP Ben Lake to pursue the matter with the UK Government.

“It’s disappointing to hear of yet another bank closure in a Ceredigion market town,” he said earlier this week.

“This announcement means Cardigan will be one of only two branches of Barclays left in Ceredigion.

“In Cardigan we have already seen the loss of Nat West replaced by a mobile banking facility which visits the town for around 45 minutes.

“I know banking practices have changed, but we still have members of the community who rely on counter and cash services including small businesses.”

Mr Lake has described the closure of the Lampeter branch – which would leave the nearest Barclays branches to Lampeter in Llandeilo and Carmarthen – as ‘bitterly disappointing’.

“Too many towns in Ceredigion have seen branches close in recent years, to the extent that Aberaeron, Llandysul, New Quay, and Tregaron have lost all of their bank branches,” he said.

“I am far from convinced that this decision can be justified on the basis of reduced demand given the closure of so many local branches in recent years and shall be meeting with Barclays in the near future to challenge it.”