More than 200 years of banking history will come to an end when Lloyds closes its Fore Street branch in September.

Before it was purchased by Lloyds in 1927, the bank was privately owned by Fox, Fowler & Company. It was the last surviving of 50 branches set up by the Fox family to supplement their wool-making business.

The bank issued its own private notes until the Bank of England assumed control of all new money. However, the Fox bank notes remained legal tender until 1964, until which time they were still used in the town.

Ben Fox, a fifth generation descendant of the bank's founder, Thomas Fox, recalled the long and storied history of his family's business. He told the Wellington Weekly that his family, who stood in the Quaker tradition, built a mill in Uffculme to help the local people. He said:

"The wooden business came first, Thomas started the mill at Tonedale, the same year as he started building the mill at Uffculme. The community of Uffculme were starving, and they pleaded with him to get the mill going.

"There was already a mill in Wellington, owned by the Were family, and Thomas married into that family. He was one of a number of children who were introduced to the business, and he took it on.

"The wool came from all over the area, it could have come from the Quantocks or Exmoor. In the early days it would have been more local but later on wool was prepped in Wellington before being taken to Uffculme."

As the business grew, it required larger amounts of cash to operate. To save the arduous trip to Exeter, which came with it the risk of robbery, Thomas Fox began by issuing promissory notes, before opening a fully fledged private bank. Ben explained:

"They needed to be able to pay the sheep farmers and things like that, so they issued promises to pay. Thomas' father in law was a banker in London and he advised Thomas to set up his own local bank. At that time businesspeople would set up their own banks around the country.

"Before that he might have to travel to Exeter to get cash and so they were travelling all over the country. There is a story that on the way to collect money in Exeter, a highwayman came at Thomas to rob him.

"Luckily his horse was fresh and fast and he managed to get away. But that type of incident made him want to think about a better way, and that's when they started printing their own notes and promises to pay. That expanded as the business grew.

Ben said that although he was sad to see the bank go, business had to move with the times.

"My great grandfather's signature is on some of the last notes, and I think my grandfather's is as well. I think they were - proud is a funny word- but it was out of their hands that the Bank of England took over issuing notes and so private banks became less important.

"It's a bit like now, internet banking is another great change, which is a shame, but it has seen the introduction of online banking, the use of phones and so on. It's partly progress and partly convenience.

"I think the closure will impact the town, but up and down the country this is what is happening and you won't stop that change. Either they form these hub banks, and I think it is a great shame the chairmen of the large banks couldn't have come up with a plan to preserve high street banks.

"They should have a sense of responsibility because there are a lot of people who are a bit older who don't have or don't like mobile phones where they can do cashless purchasing all the time. You could at least say Lloyds has stayed longer than the other banks.

Ben converted Tone Dale house, which Thomas built, into a luxury rental property. He hoped the old bank building could similarly find new relevance and be repurposed to the benefit of the town.

"It's a bit like Tone Dale and others that were in the family. Some of them have ben repurposed really well, some of the large old properties, such as Rumwell Hall which is offices or Linden House which is now a nursing home.

"Some of them are altered in a way that you can tell how it was when it was originally built, and if they sit on a large plot of land and can be used for the community then that's a good thing. Ideally they are repurposed like we have been able to do here. I feel like we were lucky with what we did here, had it been 10 years earlier there might not have been a market.

Lloyds bank on Fore Street is set to close in September, but has pledged to keep its doors open for a further six months if a replacement banking hub is not set up before then.