A WINDERMERE business owner has expressed her frustration at the closure of her nearest Cumberland Building Society branch due to the coronavirus.

Cathy Tupper from Manuka Health Store in Windermere said she relied on the building society.

“I am not very happy. I have to force my customers to go contactless which takes money off me".

“But why can’t they just keep it open for two days at least? It feels they have deserted us.”

Cumberland announced it was shutting many of its Cumbria branches last week. The Kendal branch remains open. 

“Due to the pandemic it is harder for us to keep all branches open at the moment,” said a spokesman.

“We are going through a centralisation process and condensing them down in order to provide coverage for all areas. This does however mean that some people may have to travel in order to get to another branch.

“We are sorry for this inconvenience, but we are doing the best we can. The pandemic is effecting us, but we are making sure our customers’ needs are met.”