WE'VE been here before. The Yorkshire Bank (owned by an Australian group) has decided to shut its branch in Cross Hills. It is all in the name of the great god of massive profits. Perhaps we should be thankful that the Skipton branch has not closed with it.

The closure is accompanied by the usual claptrap about improving customer service. What that means is "go on the internet".

First of all you have to invest the thick end of £1,000 in a computer. Then you have to pay a monthly subscription to an internet service provider, maybe £15 but quite easily more.

There are many of us, probably a majority of us, who prefer to deal with people. When we have a problem or request a service, we want to deal with a real person, we want to see the whites of their eyes. A brilliantly designed website is not good service, employees who sort out your account is.

The Yorkshire Penny Bank was founded on such principles of personal service. But, alas, those principles are deemed to be old-fashioned. The bank's Cross Hills branch is close to the old people's centre but perhaps old people are seen as a nuisance not a customer.

The truth is, however, that Yorkshire Bank is far from the first to go down this route and probably won't be the last. Rural communities - and Cross Hills can hardly be called a rural community - have seen this gradual erosion of facilities over a long period. Banks, post offices, shops have a dismal record of retrenching from small towns.

It is a depressing trend, but one which is hardly likely to be reversed.

Doubtless the customers of the Yorkshire Bank in Cross Hills will vote with their feet and switch to Barclays or Skipton Building Society which remain in the community.