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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NatWest and Lloyds to axe a further 81 bank branches