Full list of banks closing branches for good next week – including Lloyds and TSB
FOUR major high street banks are closing nearly 20 branches for good next week in a blow for households.
Halifax, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and TSB are shutting 18 sites across the UK between them, according to the latest data from ATM provider LINK.
Halifax is to permanently close two branches in England while Lloyds is shuttering six across the country.
RBS is closing three branches in Scotland while TSB is closing seven locations across England, Scotland and Wales.
It comes after The Sun revealed 55 Lloyds Banking Group sites will close for good in 2025.
Meanwhile, 69 branches are set to shut just this month in towns and cities including Hounslow, Portishead and Felixstowe.
Banks and building societies have shut around 6,000 branches since 2015 — at a rate of 54 each month — to almost half the number of branches that existed a decade ago.
Since 2022, almost 1,500 branch closures have been announced, according to data from LINK.
Here is the list of bank branches closing next week, and their final opening dates:
Halifax
- 54/56 High Street, Hailsham, England – September 19
- 122-26 High Street, Uckfield, England – September 18
Lloyds
- Market Street, Hailsham, England – September 19
- 122-126 High Street, Uckfield, England – September 18
- 36-38 Church Road, Burgess Hill, England – September 17
- 5/6 Market Place, Hertford, England – September 17
- 11-13 Devonshire Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, England – September 16
- 3 King Street, Saffron Walden, England – September 16
RBS
- 30 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, Scotland – September 19
- 18 Tay Walk, Cumbernauld, Scotland – September 18
- 2139 Paisley Road West, Cardonald, Scotland – September 17
TSB
- 25 Cheap Street, Frome, England – September 19
- 30 Drysdale Street, Alloa, Scotland – September 19
- 104 West Road, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England – September 18
- 7-8 General Rees Square, Cwmbran, Wales – September 18
- 40 High Street, Leven, Scotland – September 18
- 5 Blue Street, Camarthan, Wales – September 17
- 59 Leith Walk, Edinburgh, Scotland – September 17
Why are bank branches closing?
The latest data from the British Banking Association (BBA) from 1986 to 2012 and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from 2012 to 2023 reveals that the number of bank branches in operation in the UK fell from 14,689 in 1986 to 5,745 in 2023 – a loss of 8,944.
Over the same period, the number of building society branches in operation plummeted from 6,954 to 1,925.
The loss of bank branches across high streets has been attributed to banking customers’ changing habits and the onset of online banking.
However, the mass closure of banks has led to fears those without access to computers, phones and transport, like the elderly, are being left behind.
In 2021, then chair of the House of Commons Treasury Committee, Mel Stride, wrote to several high street banks about branch closures.
In a letter response from the chief executive of Barclays UK, Matt Hammerstein said “profound technological changes” had seen the need for physical branches “experience a sustained fall”.
TSB Bank also said at the time that over 90% of its transactions were done digitally and over 67% of its customers used mobile, online or telephone banking.
Customers being forgotten
Customers are being forgotten, writes The Sun’s Head of Consumer, Tara Evans.
With branches closing and online banking taking over, customers can be left feeling cut off.
We wrote about forgotten customers back in July on our Sun Money pages in our weekly newspaper section.
People like David Elkins, 82, a retired service engineer from Calne, Wilts, who saw his HSBC branch close in 2023 and had to travel ten miles to the next nearest.
He has a kidney issue and needs frequent dialysis, making it impractical.
Banking hubs are emerging as a solution to address the gaps left by widespread closures – but there are not enough of them.
There are plans for 146 of these, but so far there are only 60.
You can use one of the Post Office’s 11,635 branches to perform basic banking tasks, but they don’t allow you to open or close accounts for example.
What to do if your local bank branch is closing
If a recent bank or building society closure has left you without one nearby, you have some alternatives.
You can carry out most basic banking tasks at your nearest Post Office, although you won’t be able to apply for a loan or open a new bank account there.
You can find your nearest Post Office branch by using the locator tool on its website.
Some banks offer a mobile banking service – a bus that comes to your area offering services you can usually get at a physical branch.
Other banks use buildings such as village halls or libraries to offer mobile banking services.
It’s worth contacting your bank to see what services they have available, and when they might next be in your area.
If you’re thinking about giving online banking a go, comparison website Uswitch has a useful guide on all the need to knows.
You could also switch your current account to a bank or building society that has branches closer to you.
You can switch current accounts for free, in most cases, through the Current Account Switch Service (CASS).
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories