Public meeting to be held over proposed closure of Appleby HSBC bank

A public meeting to fight the planned closure of the Appleby branch of HSBC is being held in the town next week. Officials from the bank and Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith and the Border have been invited to attend the meeting at 7pm. on Thursday September 20 in the pubic hall..

Hundreds have already signed a petition against the closure n November 30. Two full time posts and a number of part time posts are under threat The shock closure leave just one bank, Barclays and one building society, the Cumberland in the town.

But many businesses who are customers are angry at the decision, especially shops and trades people who rely on the banking facilities to deposit cash.
Businesswoman Susan Spence who runs Allsorts shop in Boroughgate said: “We hope people from all the surrounding villages will attend whether they are bank customers or not. The strength of feeling over the closure is overwhelming and we want to put our case to the bank.”

• An online petition is now available for people to have their say on the closure of HSBC. You can sign online at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-the-hsbc-branch-in-appleby.html