High Street Bank Closures, does it matter?

Halifax is planning to close its Bridgwater branch, and Lloyds their Burnham-on-sea branch.

Has your local bank already closed or about to close? What does it mean to you and our local communities?

The banking giant Barclays has said it cut around 5,000 jobs in 2023 to “simplify and reshape the business”.

Lloyds says that 75% of their customers use other modes of banking, does the 25% not matter?

That’s one in four people, that’s one member of a family, at least one of our friends. We all probably know someone who would be affected by this happening in their high street.

The erasure of accessible experiences for people who will be disproportionately affected by brutal digitisation deserves to be called out for what it is: Companies making it harder for some members of our community to live so the big banks can line their own pockets.

How will this affect our bus usage, with many routes under threat already – the commercial bus companies say many bus routes are not viable.

I believe it’s important to think about all members of our community, older people, and young families.

Think about the recent attempts to close ticket offices all over the country, is there that much difference with closing our banks, in the high street?

This decision is making banking less accessible for the technologically challenged, it’s also important to remind ourselves that for many people (senior citizens in particular) these person-to-person interactions underscore their day-to-day well-being, it’s symptomatic of the challenges that our high street is facing.

What do you think? Get in touch.