People living in a Wirral village have been left outraged by a decision to close down their last bank.
At the start of last month, NatWest announced it would be closing 60 in-person branches across the country by September 20, including the branch in Port Sunlight- the village's last bank. Those who live in the village have been angered by the decision.
Their main concern is it will leave many older or disabled customers, who do not use online banking for a variety of reasons, stranded without a bank. They fear they'll be left with nowhere to withdraw cash and nowhere to go with any concerns regarding mortgages or financial matters.
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A petition has now been started by Wirral Labour Cllrs Sue Percy and Joe Walsh to stop the closure of the Port Sunlight branch. Cllr Percy told the ECHO: "We started this petition as we were on a case about housing and one of the residents brought it up to our attention.
"For them [the closure] was quite a shock because they didn't use digital banking. They go and collect their pension from the bank and they pay for everything with cash.
"The bank is important because for a lot of residents its the only place they can use. They don't have the possibility available to them of jumping on the bus or nipping in the car and going to the bank in Birkenhead".
Doreen Gilfoyle, 88, from Port Sunlight, uses a walking stick to get around. She said: "This bank is my bank. I don't do anything online because I don't know how to do it.
"If I want to pay for something I have to go to the bank. It shouldn't close because it's the only one that's near us and we'll have to go all the way to Birkenhead if we want to do any banking. It'll be very hard for me to get to Birkenhead".
Her neighbour, Elizabeth Gibson, 88, also uses a walking stick. She said: "Where we live, we're a long walk from the station.
"We're at the other end of the village. There's ten of us, all using the bank. We need that bank there".
One concern raised by Cllr Sue Percy was that the closure of the bank, which would also bring with it the closure of Port Sunlight's only cash machine, would affect tourism in the area. Cllr Percy said: "The bank in Port Sunlight is the only place that people can withdraw cash.
"Port Sunlight is also going for World Heritage Status at the moment to attract more tourists and there will be nowhere for them to get cash just on a whim or if they ran out of money and the residents feel it will affect the business-side of Port Sunlight as well".
David Evans, 78, is one such tourist. David grew up in the village, which he now visits regularly from his home in Chester. He said: "We don't live here, we're only visiting, but admittedly I do use that bank for getting cash out whenever I'm here because a few of the shops don't take cards.
"We like to go and have a snack at the little cafe on the corner by the station, which doesn't take cards. If the bank left it would be awkward you'd have to remember to get cash out on the way here. It's annoying that you would have to get round it like that.
"We'd have to remember to get cash before we come down."
Yet, it's not only the practical side of the bank that will be missed if it closes. Susie Dodd, another Port Sunlight resident, said: "I just think that these things are for the community, there's a real sense of loss for the community.
"A lot of people, my mum's age admittedly, rely on these places to get out to talk, to communicate with people and to sort out their banking problems. An app or a website is not going to sort out your banking problem.
"If you can't communicate by phone then you can't sort your problems out, that's where face to face is vitally important.
"Human contact is absolutely vital so they're actually taking away a vital service for people who are disabled, and that is wrong".
NatWest said it saw the amount of people using the bank decrease by almost 20%, using figures from 2017-2019 as this "represents normal branch usage, as 2020 data has been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic". The bank also said that in 2019, 62% of in person customers said they also used the internet to bank on.
In a "factsheet" announcing the branch's closure, NatWest said: "We completely understand that online banking isn’t right for everyone. Sometimes you want to chat things through with someone.
"We promise that you’ll still be able to talk to one of our team either on the phone, by video or in one of our other branches."
The ECHO has approached NatWest for comment.
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