In my nearest town, we used to have a number of banks - Lloyds, TSB, Halifax, Clydesdale, Bank of Scotland and Santander. Most have gone . Clydesdale (now Virgin Money) is closing soon leaving only Santander on the High st.
The old Bank of Scotland building is up for sale and is currently used as a charity shop. The TSB building is being converted into a pub with some accommodation. No idea what will happen to the Clydesdale building which dates from 1870.
The town (population incl.surrounding areas is around 5000) will now have 1 small bank branch but 3 pubs. The nearest 'bricks & mortar' banks are 14 miles away. Progress?
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Same thing happening everywhere.
We moved to Dorset in 2004 and at that time we had NatWest, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Nationwide all within 5 miles of us.
All since long gone!
Nearest branch of any bank is now 15 miles away.
The banks don't care in the slightest. Brainwash customers into believing on-line banking is the future along with pay by card for everything and they vastly reduce their overheads while massively boosting their profits.
They are being helped in this by all the people who now regard cash as a dirty word!
Our local bank closed in April. The nearest ones are 3/4 miles away, not an issue in general, but for banking the cash from Church it means a drive, parking charge, walk to bank, then queue. Inconvenient and a security risk, instead of free parking behind the local bank and a very short walk to the door.
I believe they are planning a 'bank hub' in an office, where the staff will deal with several banks issues.
The same here, we only have RBS and Bank of Scotland left.
For years we received mail and emails from the banks asking us to bank on line, and now they are blaming the closures on customers banking on line.
We no longer have bankers employed in our banks either, we have unqualified customer service assistants on the counters and insurance salesmen as managers. Our last banker took early retirement as he objected to being told how to do his job by an insurance salesman.
We used to have a bank in our village, Nat West if I remember right, as it went years ago. We have 4 towns within a 6 mile radius, and bank branches are disappearing from all of them, and one of those towns has no banks at all. This area is hardly the back of beyond, but if I want to visit a branch of my bank it is a 60 mile round trip. It's hardly some two-bit bank either, it's a well known mainstream bank.
Same in my town, luckily, there is a Nationwide and I have a current account as well as a mortgage account with them.
They had a dig at the banks about their branches will not close unlike the banks on their window.
I wonder how long that will stay true!
As for needing to use a bank, HMRC issued a tax refund (yes they do exist) in the form of a cheque about 3 years ago, and I had to go to my bank to deposit it via their hole in the wall machine.
That bank is closed now, however if I get a cheque again, I can put it through Nationwide's hole in the wall instead.
I do not believe I needed to visit a bank since then.
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Where do small businesses like shops go to pay in their takings these days? I know a lot of banking transactions can be done online, but things like that can't.
I do most of my banking online, most of my regular bills are paid by standing order or direct debit, as I'd simply forget to pay them otherwise, and my pension is paid straight into my account, but there are still times when I need to speak to someone in a branch. Last year for instance I had an account with monthly fees and I decided that as what the fees covered were no longer relevant I would switch to an ordinary account, so I needed some advice. I much prefer on such occasions to actually talk to someone face to face, as I'm sure many others do, so I had to drive 30 miles to Chelmsford as that is now my nearest branch, even though I live in Hertfordshire.
Why is it that we are told by the banks that they are closing branches because "nobody uses them anymore", but when you go into one there is always a big queue?
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 12/8/2023
It is possible to use the Post Office for many transactions, you can pay in up to £2,000 per day I think it is.
In Ware, one of our nearest towns, there are no banks at all, and for the past 6 months or more there has been no post office either. Fortunately now a new post office has opened. Presumably the small shop owners have had to drive to another town for the past 6 months to pay in their takings.
The Post Office will take some cash, but not a lot of coins, I use it for one of my charity accounts. The Church collections often have a lot of coins/cash, so must go to the bank every week. In this area there are lots of Muslim businesses, they tend to mainly use cash and are usually in the queue for paying in. Businesses generally need to use the counter service as they need the books stamping.
We used to have 5 banks in our High Street, now in the High Street we only have one and only one Cashpoint and great difficulty with parking. Who wants to park over 1/2 mile away to draw some money. On the outskirts we have a Tesco with a Cashpoint but it is on a one way system so a bit awkward although plenty of parking.
We used to have a hole-in-the-wall cashpoint in our village Coop, but then ram-raiders nicked it using a fork-lift truck. It was replaced a few months later, but when it got nicked by the same method for a second time it disappeared altogether, never to be replaced. This is usually a very low-crime area too, but maybe that's why we were targetted, as we would not be expecting anything like that here.
I suppose this is one advantage of living in a city. In our suburb of Liverpool there is a small shopping street but we have a Santander, Nationwide and Halifax. There used to also be a RBS and Lloyds but those two closed a few years back.
I have to say that I very rarely use the branch. I do most of my banking online but my parents are in their 90s and wouldn’t know what online banking was. For birthdays etc they often send me a good old cheque so having a branch nearby to lodge it is handy. If my parents didn’t have access to a branch where they live, I really don’t know what they would do as they can’t travel far and definitely can’t go online.
I'm in the burbs of London, and still open bank branches are a rarity here too, it's not just out in the sticks!
My nearest bank branch is now over 2 miles away, machine only (no public facing staff), impossible to get to by car as no parking nearby, about 30 minutes on the bus of which half is the walking time to and from bus stops! Ok if you're fit and able to walk, and lucky enough to get on the first or even second overcrowded bus that comes along, but not easy.
If I needed a branch with actual staff to deal with, that'd be about an hour away, again by bus, as car parking not so easy or convenient (AND expensive!)
I was delighted (initially!) a couple of months back to get a substantial refund cheque from a utility company, but then reality and concern dawned, where the hell do I pay a cheque into my account these days! Not handled a cheque in many years, and a LOT more bank branches open in those days! A bit of Googling revealed my phone banking app had the ability to photograph a cheque and pay it in that way - result! It was news to me, didn't realise that was possible, but it worked a treat and money in account quicker than if I'd wasted hours going to a branch and restled with one of their confounded paying in machines or dealt with a bank cashier!
A large amount of cash would be just as troublesome as a cheque without the phone app, not sure there's a post office much more convenient than the bank branches, so many closed down over past few years.
Pay a cheque in online, just take a photo on the banking app. So easy. Can’t remember the last time I used a bank. I never really have cash on me only, keep a bit of change in car in case needed for car park. Our local hospital has just gone over to cameras so pay by card on the way out, so much easier than faffing around for coins and guessing how long you’re going to be.
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Topic: The end of the bank.
via mobile 11/8/2023 at 2:07pm
