Residents of a town once named the best place to live in the UK could soon be facing a two-hour trip to the bank after a spate of closures.
Ilkley in West Yorkshire was named as the country’s best place to live in 2022 by the Times, but it will soon be left with just one bank, Santander, when the Halifax branch closes in January.
The town did have a Barclays and a Natwest branch, but both have closed their doors.
Now local people say they are becoming “frustrated” by the closures with many who cannot use the Santander branch and are unable to access online banking facing a potential two-hour journey to get to their nearest bank in Skipton.
Deborah Perkins, who lives in the town and does not have an internet connection is one of those people making the trip on a regular basis.
She told Yorkshire Live: “It impacts a lot because I’m not on the internet, I don’t even know how to do internet banking.
“I actually prefer to go into a bank and have a one-to-one person in front of me instead of just kind of a screen. They shut Barclays here in Ilkley the other year which is such a pain because I’ve got to now get on the bus to get to Skipton and the bus is only every two hours.
“Now, somebody told me they’re thinking of, next March sometime, of shutting that one in Skipton.”
Ms Perkins also raised concerns that the loss of banks could have an impact on the high street and the community, as people will be mixing less and will not be in the town to visit its shops.
She added: “Walking around with your friends or a relative, you may not buy anything but it’s that social contact of walking around.
“That’s all going to be lost because if there’s nothing to walk around to, everybody’s going to be staying in their houses.”
Her comments were echoed by Trevor Paget from Horsforth, a town with similar problems to Ilkley in terms of bank branch closures. He said he had been pushed into online banking by the lack of high street branches.
Mr Paget said: “We do go into the branch if we have to, but it’s very rare.
“I think as long as they have hubs, banking hubs, so you can go in and speak to somebody, that’s as good as we can expect I think.”
Simon Langley, who lives in Ilkley, also said he did most of his banking online but raised concerns for those who could not.
He said: “I presume it’s a matter of cost-cutting and because of the fact they are used less and less.
“There is a social aspect to it as well, because, for example supermarkets, I absolutely hate self-checkouts and I know that some people just like that interaction with somebody.”
