Cheltenham & Gloucester branches to go as Lloyds announces fresh cuts

BANKING giant Lloyds is to close its Cheltenham & Gloucester branches as part of a fresh wave of cuts which will see more than 1,000 jobs axed, it was revealed today.

Industry sources said around 1,400 posts could be cut when the bank makes a formal announcement later today.

Branches of Cheltenham & Gloucester across the country will close under the latest rationalisation plans.

Lloyds has cut almost 3,000 jobs since mid-April after its merger earlier this year with Halifax Bank of Scotland, leading to anger from unions.

Officials have complained about "death by a thousand cuts" and have urged the bank to "come clean" about the scale of the restructuring programme.

Cheltenham & Gloucester, a subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, specialises in mortgages and savings products.

Previously a building society, it is one of the largest mortgage lenders in the UK, with roots traced back to the Cheltenham & Gloucestershire Permanent Mutual Benefit Building and Investment Association in 1850.

At first the Society was based in Cheltenham, its first Gloucester branch opening in 1896. Over the next 80 years, it expanded throughout the UK, opening the 100th branch in Pershore in 1979.

Throughout the 1980s, the C&G acquired several smaller building societies.

In 1997, C&G agreed to a takeover approach from Lloyds Bank. This involved the demutualisation of the society, and generated a windfall payment to its members.

A Lloyds spokesman would not comment on the cuts.