Chislehurst will soon have just one bank.

The Santander on Chislehurst High Street will close on October 12. Barclays will be the town’s only bank once the Santander branch closes.

Chislehurst lost an HSBC in April 2016 and a NatWest in June 2017 meaning that the town will have lost three banks in the space of around 19 months.

There are currently no plans for Chislehurst’s Barclays to close.

Paul Turpin, community banking director for Barclays in south London said: “Clearly it is not possible to give an open-ended commitment that a branch will remain open but I can confirm that we have no current plans to make any changes at the Chislehurst branch.”

Chair of the Chislehurst Town Team Alison Stammers said: “If people aren’t coming to the high street to do their banking then they won’t buy a birthday card, buy a coffee or book a holiday.

“It impacts the future of the whole high street.

“It has a financial impact on the whole town."

Ms Stammers said that Barclays is the only bank in the area that is a member of the Chislehurst Business Group, an organisation set up to bring businesses in the area together to discuss common issues.

NatWest and Santander were never part of the group.

MP for Bromley and Chislehurst Bob Neill wrote a letter to Santander chief executive, Nathan Bostock where he slammed the company for not consulting residents enough over the closure.

Santander responded saying that they had contacted the SE London Chamber of Commerce, Age UK, the Citizens Advice Bureau, the local and regional post office and councillors at the Bromley Civic Centre.

Santander agreed they should have contacted the Chislehurst Business Group, the Chislehurst Town Team, the Chislehurst Society and the Chislehurst Rotary Club.

A Santander spokesman said: “Santander is committed to ensuring we provide a good level of service that meets the changing needs of our customers.

“In order to do this we continually review our branch network, and sometimes need to make difficult decisions over our less utilised branches, ensuring colleagues and customers are informed well in advance of any changes.”

The spokesman said that the branch will be closed because of a recent internal review. They said that the decision was not taken lightly.

Santander branches are located at Sidcup, Petts Wood, Bromley and Eltham. The spokesperson suggested that customers could also use online, mobile or telephone banking.