Bank closures: Lloyds, RBS and Yorkshire Building Society to shut branches

Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and Yorkshire Building Society have all announced branch closures across the country in the next year. Is your local branch going to close?

Two banks and a building society have announced that they'll be closing branches, leaving more people without a local bank.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has said that it will be shutting 197 NatWest branches and 62 RBS branches, resulting in around 680 job losses.

RBS said in a statement: "We expect these branch closures to result in around 680 redundancies. We realise this is difficult news for our colleagues and we are doing everything we can to support those affected. We will ensure compulsory redundancies are kept to an absolute minimum."

Yorkshire Building Society is planning to drop a handful of branches as part of its cuts.

Lloyds is also going to close 49 branches across England, Wales and Scotland next year with three of its brands affected: Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland. The closures will mean 99 people will lose their jobs.

“Customers are increasingly choosing to use digital and mobile channels for their everyday banking needs,” a spokesman for Lloyds Banking Group said. “As a consequence, the number of customers visiting some of our branches has declined in recent years.”

After the closures 95% of Lloyds customers and 90% of Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers will still have a branch within five miles of their home, according to the banking group.

However, not everyone agrees that the closures are necessary.

“Lloyds needs to halt this unnecessary bank branch closure programme,” says Rob MacGregor, national officer at the union Unite.

“Local communities are making it clear that the closure of their local branch excludes customers who cannot use digital means to conduct their financial transactions. Having returned to profitability LBG needs to stop ignoring its corporate responsibilities.”

Lloyds has already announced plans to turn some of its outposts into ‘micro-branches’ with just two members of staff and no counters as it moves more towards digital banking.

A fleet of nine mobile branches of Lloyds and Bank of Scotland will also be introduced by the end of the year.

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Where are the closures?

NatWest and RBS branches are closing across the country. Is yours listed below?

Closures in the North of England

Adel Leeds
Alderley Edge
Ambleside
Bamber Bridge
Bingley
Blyth
Bolton
Chorley Old Road
Bradford City Centre
Carnforth
Cockermouth
Colne
Culcheth
Denton
Droylsden
Eccles Egremont
Fleetwood
Formby
Frodsham
Fulwell & Seaburn
Gateshead High St
Grange-over-Sands
Hale Haxby York
Heswall Hexham
Huyton Keswick Kirkby
Kirkham Knaresborough
Liverpool One
Liverpool University
Longridge Lytham
Manchester University
Union Marple
Millom
New Mills
New Moston
North Shields
Otley Pemberton
Poulton-Le-Fylde
Prescot Ramsbottom
Royton Selby
Settle
Tadcaster
Thirsk
Timperley Ulverston
Uppermill Westhoughton
Wigton

Midlands and East

Alsager Ampthill
Ashbourne
Belper
Biddulph
Biggleswade
Bingham
Birmingham, Broad Street
Bourne
Buckingham
Burslem Stoke-on-Trent
Cheadle Coalville
Coventry, Earlsdon
Daventry
Droitwich Spa
Dronfield
Eastwood Nottingham
Felixstowe Frinton-on-Sea
Hanley Festival Park
Haverhill
Horncastle
Kempston Kenilworth
Kirkby-in-Ashfield
Leicester, Evington Road
Leicester, Queen’s Road
Leominster
Lexden Colchester
Lincoln Newark Road
Lutterworth
Malvern
Matlock
Mickelover
Netherfield
Northampton
Nottingham University
Oakham Olney
Ripley Derbyshire
Rugeley
Sleaford
Southwell
St. James
Staveley
Chesterfield
Stoke-on-Trent
Stone Staffordshire
Stowmarket
Sutton Coldfield
Tarporley
Towcester
Trentham Stoke-on-Trent
Warwick
Washwood Heath
Whitchurch Shropshire
Woburn Sands
Woodbridge
Wylde Green

South West and Wales

Aberdare
Amlwch
Boscombe
Builth Wells
Burnham-on-Sea
Caernarfon
Canford Cliffs Poole
Chandler’s Ford
Cheddar
Conwy
Ebbw Vale
Emsworth
Ferndown
Hay-on-Wye
Holywell
Hythe Southampton
Langport
Ledbury
Machynlleth
Menai Bridge
Monmouth
New Milton
Park Gates Hants
Pontypool
Porthmadog
Prestatyn
Ruthin
Shanklin Isle of Wight
Southampton London Road
Southampton Portswood
Warminster
Wellington Somerset
Welshpool
Westbourne Bournemouth
Wincanton
Winton Bournemouth
Worle
Ystrad Mynach

London and South East

49 Bishopsgate
Bearsted
Broadstairs
Cheshunt
East Finchley
Euston Road
Hampstead Village
Hythe Kent
Maida Vale
Mill Hill
Parsons Green
Sandwich
St. John’s Wood
Sunningdale
Tower Bridge
Warlingham
Whitstable
Bankside
Borough Green
Canada Square, Canary Wharf
Chislehurst
Enfield Highway
Finchley Central
Hendon Church Road
Kingsland
Marble Arch
Millbank
Rochester
Shepperton
Stamford Hill
Teddington
University of Kent
Wembley Park
Bayswater
Bow
Cavendish Square
Coulsdon
Esher
Great Portland Street
Highbury and Islington
Leytonstone
Mile End
Northumberland Heath
Romford Collier Row
Shoreditch
Staplehurst
Temple Fortune
Upminster
Whetstone

Scotland

Aberdeen Bridge of Don
Aberfeldy
Airdrie
Alloa
Annan
Aviemore
Banff
Bannockburn
Beauly
Bellshill
Biggar
Bonnyrigg
Bridge of Allan
Campbeltown
Carnwath
Castlebay
Comrie
Douglas Lanarkshire
Dunbar
Dunblane
Dundee Stobswell
Duns
Dyce
Ellon
Eyemouth
Glasgow Business Centre
Grantown-on-Spey
Gretna
Hamilton Cadzow Street
Hawick
Huntly
Inveraray
Inverness Queensgate
Jedburgh
Kilbirnie
Kilwinning
Kinross
Kyle
Langholm
Larkhall
Lesmahagow
Linlithgow
Lockerbie
Mallaig
Melrose
Montrose
Nairn
North Berwick
Penicuik
Perth South Street
Pitlochry
Renfrew
Rothesay
Saltcoats
Selkirk
Stepps
Strathaven
Tain
Tannochside
Tongue
Turriff
Wick

Here are the 32 Lloyds branches closing, along with 11 Bank of Scotland branches and six Halifax branches.

Acle (Lloyds)
Alva (Bank of Scotland)
Avenue, Southampton (Lloyds)
Banner Cross (Lloyds)
Billingshurst (Lloyds)
Bingham (Lloyds)
Bridge of Allan (Bank of Scotland)
Broomhill, Sheffield (Lloyds)
Bungay (Lloyds)
Burslem (Lloyds)
Cardiff Capitol (Halifax)
Carnoustie (Bank of Scotland)
Codsall (Lloyds)
Coulsdon (Lloyds)
Crowthorne (Lloyds)
Cullompton (Lloyds)
Dalmuir (Bank of Scotland)
Denny (Bank of Scotland)
Edinburgh Piershill (Bank of Scotland)
Faringdon (Lloyds)
Giffnock (Bank of Scotland)
Glasgow Scotstoun (Bank of Scotland)
Great Shelford (Lloyds)
Guiseley (Halifax)
Halesworth (Lloyds)
Hornsea (Lloyds)
Hythe (Lloyds)
Larkfield (Lloyds)
Liverpool Bold St (Halifax)
Llandeilo (Lloyds)
Lochgelly (Bank of Scotland)
Moulsham Street, Chelmsford (Lloyds)
Norwich St Stephens (Halifax)
Norwich Surrey St (Lloyds)
Perivale (Lloyds)
Petts Wood (Lloyds)
Pocklington (Lloyds)
Poole Commercial Rd (Lloyds)
Prestwick (Bank of Scotland)
Ripon (Lloyds)
Rochester (Lloyds)
Rottingdean (Lloyds)
Sandwich (Lloyds)
Southwold (Lloyds)
Stirling Munro Road (Bank of Scotland)
Wealdston (Halifax)
Wilton (Lloyds)
Woolston (Lloyds)
Yarm (Halifax)

If you're a Yorkshire Building Society customer, these are the branches disappearing.

Fulham
London City
West End
Knaresborough
Bingley
Yeadon
Meltham
Stalybridge

Who else is shutting down branches?

A lot of banks are shutting down branches, sometimes even if they are the last physical branch left in a town.

Which? has an interactive map where you can see the latest closures and other closures that have been recorded since 2015.

What can you do?

The good news is you do have options if your local bank branch is closing down.

One option is to stick with your bank but do your banking via the Post Office. Almost all current account and business account holders – regardless of which bank you are with – can bank via the Post Office.

You can pay money into your account, check your balance and withdraw cash at the Post Office.

Bank via the Post Office (Image:Shutterstock)

Alternatively, you could switch to a bank that still has a branch that is convenient for you. Obviously, you don’t want to switch to find your new bank then closes your local branch too, so choose your new bank carefully.

One idea may be to move to a challenger bank. While the big names are closing branches some of the new kids on the block are expanding and opening new branches. Metro Bank has opened 50 outlets since it launched in 2010, and plans to open another five in the near future, with the aim of having 110 branches by 2020.

Handelsbanken now operates more than 200 branches across the UK up from just 26 back in 2006. It promotes local banking and states it is very important to its business plan.

“Banking as far as we’re concerned is very local,” Mikael Sorensen, UK chair of Handelsbanken, said earlier this year. “Mr and Mrs Smith in Huddersfield still need a bank, and they still need a debit card and a mortgage loan.”

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