The last bank in a Wirral village is set to close as NatWest shut up shop at 60 stores across the nation.
The Port Sunlight branch of NatWest will end its stay in the picturesque town on Tuesday, September 20. NatWest said that the reason behind the closure is the rise in people using online banking and the decline of people using their services in-store and over the counter.
Port Sunlight is only one of 60 branches across the country which includes the branch at Hunts Cross, which are set to close later this year. The decision has been met with an outcry from customers concerned that it was made with 'no thought for older people' who are unfamiliar with online banking.
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After the decision was made, People living in the village received letters informing them of the bank's closure. Many were upset and took to social media to voice their concerns.
One person living in the area addressed the bank directly and said: "You may have millions of customers who use on line banking who are of a younger age group and still quite good on there feet. but there are still millions of the older generation who don't want or are unable to do online banking."
Another saw it as a betrayal, saying: "This is so wrong. What happened to putting customers first instead of huge profits.
They added: "Seems all the banks are going the same way. How can people deposit money into their bank account?"
A regular user of the bank said: "I think this is dreadful. It’s a busy bank there are always people in it.
"Is there no thought for older people who like to speak face to face with a real person?"
The closest bank to Port Sunlight after it closes will be the Lloyds Bank in Prenton, over an hours walk from the NatWest. After that, it's the NatWest at Birkenhead's Charing Cross, another hours walk or half-an-hour on the bus.
One person living in Port Sunlight, realising this, lamented, posting: "It’s terrible! What about older residents of Port Sunlight and Bebington who have a short walk to the bank and do not use internet banking- now they have to get a bus."
NatWest said that they saw the amount of people using the bank decrease by almost 20%, using figures from 2017-2019 as this "represents normal branch usage, as 2020 data has been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic". They also said that in 2019, 62% of in person customers said they also used the internet to bank on.
In a "factsheet" announcing the branch's closure, Natwest said: "We completely understand that online banking isn’t right for everyone. Sometimes you want to chat things through with someone.
"We promise that you’ll still be able to talk to one of our team either on the phone, by video or in one of our other branches."
