'Caring' Clydesdale bank slogan rings hollow to an Aberdeenshire community as it shuts branch

‘We Care About Here’ claims the Clydesdale Bank – a boast that now sounds like a bad joke for one Aberdeenshire community facing the closure of its branch. The Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, owned by National Australia Bank, are axing 28 of their 320 branches over the next six months. Among the closures is the Clydesdale branch in Alford. But the community will not let the branch shut without a fight. Villagers have set up a petition with more than 1,100 locals calling for the bank to reconsider the closure. John Latham, 57, an independent councillor at Aberdeenshire Council, who lives in Tough, five miles out of Alford, says: ‘The closure is a real disappointment. Rural communities like this will see it as part of a decline where local shops already struggle. It is another nail in the coffin in their fight for survival.’ Barbara Henderson, who runs the newly opened Albayarn wool yarn shop in Alford is also bitterly disappointed by the planned closure...............Read more here