THERE is no doubt that banking has been hit by the revolution in which "plastic" and "electronic" money have reduced cash transactions enormously - and, so, slashed the number times customers call at their banks in person.

But today we again see the impact of these changes and of the boom in use of hole-in-the-wall cash machines too as the National Westminster announces the closure of three more of its branches in East Lancashire.

Next month, Nelson, Oswaldtwistle and Barrowford join Waterfoot, whose branch closed last September, as places that are no longer on the NatWest map. And for Barrowford folk, it means their town will no longer have a bank at all.

In addition to them being inconvenienced, we share the concern of Pendle MP Gordon Prentice and the community that such events send the wrong signals about the viability the shopping centre the bank once served. And precisely the same fears arose when the NatWest pulled out of Waterfoot.

But though new technology and modern banking methods may provoke these closures, we are still forced to wonder whether they stem primarily from falling customer demand or from the bank's own and possibly more severe measure of their viability.

Use it, or lose it, they say. True, but that choice is lost anyway if the bank shuts before the customers and community can do anything about it.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.