BARCLAYS Bank is reducing opening hours at its branches in Milnthorpe and Kirkby Lonsdale.

Customer use has been declining at the Milnthorpe bank "for some time", said a spokesman, and Barclays has decided to close the branch on Thursdays from this week so that it can "continue to offer a service" to its customers.

"Our colleagues have been informed about the change and will work at busier branches nearby on the day the branch is closed," he told the Gazette.

In Kirkby Lonsdale, the branch will close an hour earlier each day, with opening times now Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 3.30pm, said the spokesman.

Milnthorpe parish councillor Alan Baverstock noted the reduced hours at Barclays in Milnthorpe at a recent parish council meeting and feared this could signal the branch's "eventual closure".

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Kay Eccles, community leader for Barclays in Cumbria, said the bank was "not able to speculate on any future change in relation to our branch opening hours or branch network". Barclays' opening hours and high street presence is constantly under review, said the bank.

Meanwhile, the Sedbergh branch of Barclays is to close on Friday, February 13, to the dismay of many townsfolk.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron is to hand over a 1,000-strong petition from residents and businesses calling for the Government to intervene and force the chief executives of both NatWest and Barclays to overturn their decision to close branches in the town.

The NatWest branch shut last week.

Mr Farron said that, when Barclays closes, Sedbergh will be left without a high street branch although there is a post office and NatWest has agreed for one of its mobile branches to visit twice a week.

He told the Gazette: “I will keep working with residents and councillors like Evelyn Westwood to try and offer banking services for the town. It’s great that the Post Office will continue to offer counter services, but for these two banks to leave and remove banking from a major town like Sedbergh is unbelievable and I will keep fighting to make them see sense or to try and bring another bank to town.”

Barclays closed its Ambleside branch in December 2014.