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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Rupert Jones

NatWest and Lloyds to axe a further 81 bank branches

A branch of Natwest bank in central London.
A branch of NatWest bank in central London. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

NatWest and Lloyds are to axe a further 81 bank branches as both announced fresh cuts to their high street networks.

Lloyds Banking Group is closing 39 branches – 26 Lloyds Bank outlets, nine Halifax branches and four Bank of Scotland outlets – between July and September this year. NatWest Group said it was shutting 42 branches.

The moves come days after it emerged that Barclays was closing 14 more outlets.

Both Lloyds and NatWest argued that customer demand for traditional counter services was falling as more people used online and mobile banking.

The consumer group Which? said on Thursday that UK banks and building societies had closed, or announced the closure of, 5,498 branches since January 2015, at a rate of about 54 each month. It said NatWest Group, which comprises NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, would have closed 1,257 branches by the end of 2023, “the most of any banking group”.

In January this year, Lloyds announced the closure of 18 Halifax branches and 22 Lloyds sites. Last October, NatWest said it would be axing 43 branches during the first half of this year. And at the end of November, HSBC said it would be shutting a further 114 outlets between April and August this year.

Lloyds said that as the use of digital banking had grown, the number of branch visits had fallen. Visits to he 39 branches being axed had fallen by an average of 59% – and some up to 69% – in the last five years.

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: “Our customers are increasingly using digital channels to manage their money – we now have over 20 million regular digital users, so it’s important we continue to develop the online services our customers want to use.”

They added: “Our branches will continue to be an option for our customers, alongside our telephone services, mobile app and online bank.”

All of the branch locations announced for closure have a post office and at least one free-to-use ATM nearby, said Lloyds.

A NatWest spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility seriously to support the people who face challenges in moving online, so we are investing to provide them with support and alternatives that work for them.”

Full list of Lloyds Banking Group closures:

Lloyds Bank branches:

Bretton, Peterborough

Benton, Tyne and Wear

Fulwell, London

Woodlands, Doncaster

Chapeltown, Sheffield

Highbury Corner, London

Carlton, Nottinghamshire

Cambridge, Chesterton Road

Shepton Mallet

Hazel Grove, Stockport, Greater Manchester

Holborn Circus, London

Threadneedle Street, London

Tumble, Carmarthenshire

Eckington, Sheffield

New Mills, Derbyshire

Corringham, Essex

Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire

Bridge Street, Downham Market

Shirebrook, Derbyshire

Sidmouth, Devon

Porthcawl, south Wales

Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire

Wellington, Somerset

Newcastle upon Tyne, Newburn

East Horsley, Surrey

Ystradgynlais, Powys, Wales

Halifax branches:

Catford, London

Emersons Green Retail Park, Bristol

Denton, Greater Manchester

Mirfield, West Yorkshire

Tadcaster, North Yorkshire

Otley, West Yorkshire

Newton Aycliffe, County Durham

Porthcawl, south Wales

Newmarket, Suffolk

Bank of Scotland branches:

Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire

Edinburgh Royal Mile

Glasgow Pollokshields

Cults, Aberdeen

Full list of NatWest Group closures:

Aldridge, West Midlands

Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan

Barbican, London

Blandford, Dorset

Queensway, Bletchley, Milton Keynes

Bournemouth CastlePoint Shopping Centre

Brighouse, West Yorkshire

Brighton Castle Square

Bristol Queen’s Road

Christchurch, Dorset

Croydon Whitgift Centre

Deal, Kent

Dean Street, London

Dorking, Surrey

Fakenham, Norfolk

Fleet Street, London

Fulwood, Lancashire

Harold Hill, London

Heald Green, Stockport, Greater Manchester

Hertford

Holderness Road, Hull

Isleworth, London

Knowle, Bristol

Knutsford, Cheshire

March, Cambridgeshire

New England, Peterborough

New Malden, London

Roath, Cardiff

Rothwell, West Yorkshire

Runcorn, Cheshire

Ryde, Isle of Wight

South Croydon

Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Stratford Broadway, London

New Street, Birmingham

Tamworth, Staffordshire

Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire

Westbury on Trym, Bristol

Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear

Wymondham, Norfolk

Johnstone, Scotland

Tranent, Scotland

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