A CITY centre branch is set to close as part of a major high street shake-by Bradford-based Yorkshire Building Society.

The John Street branch will close in April, leaving YBS's city centre operations focused at its Howard House branch on Broadway which was recently reopened following an upgrade as part of a multi-million investment programme .

It is understood the unspecified number of staff at John Street are likely to be redeployed within YBS.

The move is part of a major rebranding and restructuring programme to remove duplicate branches in various areas around the country. It will see the Barnsley Building Society name scrapped and its Chelsea Building Society business become an online and telephone-only operation from September.

Branches of Barnsley Building Society, which YBS took over in 2008, and Chelsea Building Society, which joined the group in 2010, will be rebranded as Yorkshire Building Society.

In total, 22 branches will close but only 13 out of 200 branch roles are at risk and consultations have started with affected staff.

YBS said its plans would existing Barnsley, Chelsea and Yorkshire members access to a larger Yorkshire Building Society branded network of more than 250 branches and agencies.

Chelsea Building Society branded mortgages and savings accounts will remain available for new members online and by telephone.

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, part of YBS since 2011, is unaffected by the changes and its brand and branches are being retained.

Chris Pilling, YBS chief executive , said: “Our branch network always has been, and remains, at the heart of our business, providing the face to face service that many of our members prefer.

“These planned changes will make us more efficient and will deliver greater long-term value to both new and existing members. They will also help us to support the changing needs of our members.

“The plans are aimed at improving the way we serve our members and it’s our intention to retain a branch or agency in every location where we currently have a presence.

“Our investment in our branch network will continue as we roll out a programme of refurbishments which will provide refreshed and modern spaces for our members to do business.

“A key priority of these plans was to ensure we delivered the changes with minimum impact on colleagues. As a result, we will, wherever possible, avoid redundancies with the majority of colleagues involved in the plans simply moving to a new branch in the same location."