August closing date for Shifnal Nationwide branch

Nationwide will close its building society in Shifnal at the end of August, it was announced this afternoon. In a letter to customers, Nationwide confirmed the Market Square branch is to close on August 31.

The letter, sent from regional director Larry Banda, stated that in order to keep profits, the company must close branches which are no longer viable.

Tina Coates, a spokeswoman for Nationwide, said: "We have to close or merge branches and unfortunately Shifnal was one of those earmarked for closure.

"There are a number of reasons why we may decide to close the branch.

"We need to make sure we have branches in the right locations for our customers and to meet our customers needs.

"It is part of an ongoing review and it was a difficult decision to close the branch."

The nearest Nationwide branch from Shifnal is five miles away in Telford. There are also local branches in Newport and Wellington.

Nationwide would not say how many people were employed at the branch, but in his letter, Mr Banda stated there would be no job losses and the company hoped to re-deploy employees from the branch.

The company is also closing small branches in Derbyshire and Cheshire.