Santander has announced it is closing a number of its high street stores in Norfolk.

Eastern Daily Press: The Santander branch in Market Place, Holt. Picture: GOOGLE STREETVIEWThe Santander branch in Market Place, Holt. Picture: GOOGLE STREETVIEW (Image: Archant)

The bank has revealed it will close branches in Norwich's city centre, in Holt and in Aylsham.

The Norwich city centre outlet to shut is in St Stephens Street. It will close it's door for good on December 12 this year.Holt's Market Place bank will close on June 13.

Aylsham's Red Lion Street outlet will close on July 4.

Branches will also close in Newmarket and Stowmarket on May 30 and July 25.

Eastern Daily Press: The Santander branch in Red Lion Street, Aylsham. Picture: GOOGLE STREETVIEWThe Santander branch in Red Lion Street, Aylsham. Picture: GOOGLE STREETVIEW (Image: Archant)

The closures are some of the 140 closures taking place over the next year, reassigning around 1,270 roles to other branches. As part of the restructuring, 100 Santander branches will also be refurbished as part of a £55m plan.

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Trevor Bailey, 58, from Holt, said: 'It's very disappointing, my wife and I opened accounts a few years ago and have been given repeated assurances that it was there to stay. In light of the money spent on the recent refurbishment it seems very strange.

'I'm also a Nat West customer and was thinking of transferring everything to Santander after its recent closure. I'm glad I waited.'

Jess Mills, also from Holt added: 'The staff were incredibly helpful after I needed to switch from a different bank early last year. I don't believe it should be closed.

'For the locals in Holt things are getting harder and we don't seem to have what is needed. We have what we would like but not what we need. Holt caters more for the rich and wealthy than those living for wage to wage.'

Susan Allen, head of retail and business banking at Santander, said: 'The way our customers are choosing to bank with us has changed dramatically in recent years, with more and more customers using online and mobile channels.

'As a result, we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less visited branches, and those where we have other branches in close proximity.

'We will support customers of closing branches to find alternative ways to bank with us that best suit their individual needs. We are also working alongside our unions to support colleagues through these changes and to find alternative roles for those impacted wherever possible.'

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She added: 'We continue to believe that branches have a vital role to play and we will be refurbishing 100 of our branches over the next two years. We are confident that following these changes we will have the right branch network to serve our customers' changing needs, and we expect the size of our network to remain stable for the foreseeable future.'