A TOWN centre bank is set to shut its doors as another business lived to fight another day.

Santander has announced it will close its Culver Street West branch in Colchester on November 7.

The news came just hours after Patisserie Valerie, which has a shop in in Sir Isaac’s Walk, collapsed into administration.

The Colchester shop will remain open after avoiding being one of 70 to face the immediate axe.

However, its future is uncertain unless a buyer can be found for the remaining 121 stores.

Santander is closing 140 branches across the country, putting 1,270 jobs at risk.

The move comes as the firm said more people were using other forms of banking.

An impact assessment found 91 per cent of customers who used the branch also used another form of banking.

The bank’s other branch in High Street will remain open.

Patisserie Valerie said discussions with its lenders HSBC and Barclays to extend a standstill agreement on its debts had come to nothing, leaving it with no option but to appoint KPMG as administrator.

In total 2,800 jobs have been put at risk.

Tim Young, the council’s business boss, said it was disappointing news to hear but the town was resilient and would bounce back.

He said: “On the High Street we haven’t got the amount of empty shops other places are facing.

“It is sad for the staff working at the bank but people are changing the way they bank.”

Mr Young said he had no doubt the premises would be filled quickly.

“It is a concern for all of us and I do think there is a lot of confusion over Brexit which isn’t helping,” he said.

“We as a council will do all we can to continue to work with businesses and try to attract them into town.

“The ways people shop and bank are changing and we have got to be in touch with that change and the new modern way.

“Colchester has proven time and time again it can be resilient.”