British Banks Are Disappearing From The High Street

Another 40 bank branches are to be lost from the UK’s high street, as Lloyds and Halifax announce more closures.

Lloyds Banking Group, which owns both high street banks, is to close 18 Halifax sites and 22 Lloyds branches, all but one of which are in England, between April and June this year.

The group said the branches to be closed have seen the number of visits drop by almost 60 per cent on average in the last five years.

The move is yet another hammer blow for Britain’s beleaguered high streets, which have seen thousands of bank closures in recent years, as outlets in other sectors have closed their doors amid the fallout from the energy price crisis, inflation spiral and falling sales.

Banks across the country have scaled back their branch networks as visitor numbers continue to decline.

The number of people using in-person services has been declining for years as more and more people do their banking online.

During the pandemic, this increased, as some of those who’d stuck to bank branches were forced to learn how to bank from home.

But branches are still essential for the vulnerable, elderly and anyone needing face-to-face guidance.

A spokesman said that branches play an essential role in their strategy but they need to have them in the proper places, where they are well used and said they will continue to invest in branches that are being used regularly, alongside their online, mobile app and telephone services.

The bank branches that will close include 18 Halifax sites in Golders Green, North London, Maldon, Essex, and Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, among others.

The 22 Lloyds branches to be lost include those in Dagenham, east London, Ipswich, Suffolk, Twickenham in southwest London and Harrow in northwest London.

The only site not in England is Halifax’s Bangor branch, in Wales.

All the branches are within a third of a mile of at least one free-to-use cashpoint and a Post Office, the group said.

It added that the closures won’t lead to any employment losses.

The latest announcement brings the total number of bank branch closures that have been announced so far this year to 64.

Earlier in the month TSB announced it would be closing nine sites, and Barclays named 15 for closure.

Along with Lloyds, Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Santander had a combined total of 7,553 branches in 2015, but according to an analysis of figures from consumer rights group Which, the banks have closed or announced plans to close 4,294 of those sites, 57 per cent, over the past eight years.

And it appears that by closing these branches there is simply no regard for the more senior generation.

Some people would say that the older generation should learn how to do their online banking and can’t comprehend that hesitation to use tech, but it’s not always because they have the unwillingness to learn, and I truly hope that people dismissing this as an old people problem never encounter a similar situation.

Banks are an important service because without them you wouldn’t even get a job or own your own home without having a bank account, and people are now made to have a bank account, but if they’re shutting most of them down, then people should now be paid in cash if they’re unwilling to deliver face to face support.

This is 2023, not 1823!

The thing is, this is a great way to banish banks and usher us all into Central banking digital currency and this shouldn’t be permitted. Next, it will be linked to digital ID and social credit score if we comply.