Nearly 1,500 banks in the UK have either shut their doors or announced their intention to close since February 2022. That’s nearly two a DAY across the country.
While the regions hit by the most closures are London (67 closures); Scotland (62); and the south east (48), Greater Manchester has also been heavily impacted.
Around 40 banks have permanently closed their branches in the region over the last two years. That’s significantly more than in Yorkshire and the Humber (35); and Wales (27), which are also some of the worst-hit.
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The number of bank branches has been on a steady decline for a decade, with 6,000 branches closed since 2015, according to Which?. The consumer group said the ‘avalanche’ of closures has had a major impact on the high street, highlighting a need to provide replacement services for millions of people who relied on them.
Greater Manchester has already lost three banks this year – The Lloyds branch on Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester; the Lloyds on King Street, Stretford, Trafford; and the Barclays on Yorkshire Street, Rochdale. The Barclays on High Street, Oldham, also closed on Friday (May 24).
Marge from Royton has been hit by the Barclays closure and said she was left ‘searching for options’. “I’m 83 and it’s important to me to get to a bank,” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service. “I don’t do internet.”
She said she was worried about using online services as she had fallen prey to online scams in the past, adding: “”They’ve only taken small amounts luckily, and I got them back from the bank each time. But I feel guilty that it keeps happening to me. I feel like it’s my fault.
“I want to be able to go into a bank and talk to real people, so things don’t go wrong. I already had to travel into town to visit Barclay’s, and now I’ll have to find somewhere else.”
Barclays has been contacted for comment.
Oldham is lucky enough only to have lost two major banks in the last two years. Manchester has lost a total of eight, while Tameside has lost five. Bolton, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport and Wigan have each lost four and Trafford and Bury have both lost three.
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Two NatWest branches, in Melbourne Street, Stalybridge, and Lee Lane, Horwich will also close in July. Prestwich will then lose the Halifax branch in the Longfield Centre in September before the TSB in Middleton also closes in September.
Since 2022, major banking groups have joined a voluntary agreement to assess the impact of every closure. But that doesn’t seem to have slowed the decline – with 391 branches due to close in 2024.
The impact is particularly acute on villages on the outskirts of Greater Manchester. Residents of Diggle in Oldham or Todmorden in Rochdale have to travel an average of 30 minutes by car to get to a major bank branch.
This can become upwards of an hour for those reliant on public transport.
