16 bank branches including HSBC, NatWest and Halifax to close

Revealed: The 16 bank branches including HSBC, NatWest and Halifax that will close this week… are any of them near YOU?

  • Latest cull will see closures for HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, TSB and Halifax
  • READ MORE: All 76 bank branches that are shutting its doors this month 

Nearly twenty bank branches are set to close this week in another blow to the UK’s High Streets. 

In the latest cull are 16 branches for HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds, TSB and Halifax. They are some of the first of the 76 branches closing in this month alone.

Banks say they are cutting branches because they have noticed big drops in the number of customers visiting, as people opt for using their mobile phones or computers to manage their money instead. 

But closures are expected to isolate older or more vulnerable customers who do not have access to internet or online banking and require in-person advice.

It was also recently revealed that a fifth of customers are now even more isolated as they have to make an hour round-trip to visit their nearest branch – with dozens of towns across the country being left without a single bank.

16 bank branches will close this week in the latest cull of in-person banking services. File image 

Halifax is among the banks closing stores. This week will see its Surbiton branch close. File image

A survey conducted in April revealed that a third of people in the UK would rather do all their banking in person. 

But many people still want to go into their local bank branch to seek human advice amid cost-of-living pressures, despite increasingly being able to do so digitally, the survey found.

While 44 per cent of over-55s said they would rather visit a branch, the survey found it is not just the older generations who are hesitant to fully switch to mobile banking.

READ MORE: A third of Brits would rather do all their banking in person, study finds – as banks continue to close branches on the high street

A fifth of 18 to 34-year-olds said they prefer to do all their banking in person, according to the survey of more than 2,400 banking customers by professional services company Accenture. 

Furthermore, while 38 per cent of Britons now have a digital-only bank account, just a tenth use it as their main bank, it found.

Customers still want the option to visit a branch or speak to staff, or have concerns about data security and the financial stability of digital banks, Accenture found.

The flurry of closures have left some towns without a single bank.  

The last bank in Fishguard, North Wales, closed in 2018 and residents now have to travel 15 miles each way to find the nearest branch, in Haverfordwest.

In Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, there has not been a bank since 2020, with a promised ‘banking hub’ failing to materialise. The nearest bank is in Harrogate, nearly four miles away.

HSBC will close five branches at the end of the day tomorrow. File image

NatWest will also close branches this week. File image

By the end of this year HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide, Barclays, Virgin Money, TSB, Santander and Lloyds will have shut down 2,277 outlets since 2019.

The worst offender is Barclays with 614 branches either closed down or set for closure over that period, according to Which?.

Here is the full list of the branches set to close this week: 

HSBC closures

Tuesday May 9

26 Biggin Street, Dover, England, CT16 1BJ

5 High Street, Brecon, Wales, LD3 7AH

104 Front Street, Arnold, England, NG5 7EG

186 Broadway, Didcot,England, OX11 8RP

Wellington Square, Minehead, England, TA24 5LH

Halifax closures

Wednesday May 10

79 Victoria Road, Surbiton, England, KT6 4NS

Lloyds Bank closures

Wednesday May 10

1C Church Street, Weybridge, England, KT13 8DA

Thursday May 11

17 Heath Road, Twickenham, England, TW1 4AW

14 High Street, Whitstable, England, CT5 1BH

The Square, Beeston, England, NG9 1EF

NatWest closures

Tuesday May 9

Exeter, 18 St. Thomas Centre, England, EX4 1DE

Wednesday May 10

Bootle, 329 Stanley Road, England, L20 3EH

Thursday May 11

Crawley, Gatwick Road, England, RH10 9RF

Frome, 4 Market Place, England, BA11 1AE

TSB closures

Tuesday May 9

37 Castlegate, Newark, England, NG24 1BD

Thursday May 11

675 Ormskirk Road, Wigan, England, WN5 8AH

Source: Read Full Article