Barclays is set to close a further 27 branches this year, including one in Merseyside.
Barclays Heswall, on Pensby Road, will close its doors at noon on Friday, July 1, as the office becomes one of 330 UK branches to shut up shop in 2022. The decision comes after the number of counter transactions has fallen in the last two years, with 84% of customers reportedly using other methods of banking, such as online and by telephone.
Barclays also revealed that, in the past 12 months, 19% of customers have been using nearby branches, with only 221 customers using the Heswall branch exclusively. Which? reports Barclays will have shut 103 branches by 2023, with these 27 closures adding to the 63 already announced earlier in the year.
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A Barclays spokesperson said: “We continue to review and adjust our branch footprint to ensure it reflects the way that our customers are increasingly choosing to do their banking. We will always give twelve weeks’ notice of any branch closures, explaining the rationale for the decision, as well as highlighting alternative branches and ways to bank.
"This includes working with the local community to find different, more flexible ways for our colleagues to continue to provide local banking support, such as through pop-up presences.”
Banks say they are closing branches because a lack of footfall means it costs too much to keep many open. Some communities have been left with no bank branch at all.
Around 2,300 people on the Isle of Scilly now have to take a plane or ferry to use a bank branch as their last remaining bank shut in April.
The full list of Barclays branches due to shut this year is:
- Stow-on-the-Wold
- Rawtenstall
- Muswell Hill, London
- Bexhill-on-Sea
- Felixstowe
- Heswall
- Pinner
- Gateshead
- St Austell
- Surbiton
- Epping
- Manchester
- Beaconsfield
- Middleton
- Chester-le-Street
- Feltham
- Selby
- Corby
- Maldon
- Peterborough
- Prestwich
- Wells
- Sidcup
- Havant
- Petersfield
- Ryde
- Billericay
- Chesterfield
- Alfreton
- Lampeter
- Dunmow
- Saffron Walden
- Longton
- Chorley
- Ripon
- Southgate Chase Side
- Holloway
- Bridgnorth
- Ludlow
- Sheerness
Lloyds Banking Group is closing 28 branches – 20 Lloyds Bank and eight Halifax – between August and November this year. HSBC is closing 69 bank branches due to a shift to online banking, in a move affecting around 400 staff.
TSB is to close 70 bank branches in the UK this year, while NatWest will shut 32 outlets, including 11 Royal Bank of Scotland sites. Brits can access some banking services at Post Offices due to a tie-up between banks and the mail delivery institution.
Banks pay the Post Office to do this to offset the impact of them closing branches. However, this range of services is limited compared to a proper bank branch. You cannot open a bank account at a Post Office, for example, or sort out issues with your account.
What you can do at a Post Office also depends which bank you are with. If you are a Bank of Scotland, HSBC or Lloyds customer you can use all Post Office banking services - withdrawing and depositing cash, checking your balance and depositing a cheque.
But if you bank with Nationwide, all you can do is withdraw cash and check your balance.
