Saltcoats and Kilbirnie’s TSB branches are to have their opening hours cut to a three-day week.

From the end of July, the Saltcoats TSB will open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9am-5pm, and Kilbirnie on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9.30am-4.30pm.

The reduction in hours at both branches is another blow to the areas, which have seen the closure of several banks over the years.

The Garnock Valley has witnessed the closure of the Beith and Dalry TSBs, both the Clydesdale Bank and the Bank of Scotland in Beith, and the Kilbirnie branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Royal Bank of Scotland also closed its Saltcoats and Kilwinning branches; while Saltcoats lost its Clydesdale and Barclays.

A TSB spokesperson said: “Customers are changing the way they interact with us and over the past few years we have seen the usage of branches continue to fall, with many customers increasingly using alternative TSB branches, online, mobile or telephone banking to access TSB banking services. These changes mean we are reducing the opening hours of around 70 branches.

“There are no job losses as part of these changes and we are currently writing to customers of the branches impacted by the announcement.”