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More than 10 banks have shut down in the Bristol area in the past couple years. These have included banks in central areas such as Queens Road and Victoria Street.
A new map showing bank closures in recent years reveals the area has seen closures all over, from Knowle to Clifton and from Kingswood to Avonmouth. Around 10 banks have closed every week on average in the UK since the launch of an initiative designed to protect access to cash on the high street.
Nearly 300 banks have closed so far this year alone and, by the end of 2024, 415 banks will have been lost to the high street as the pace of closures shows no sign of slowing down. Of those, 124 closures will leave the communities they served with no remaining branches of any bank.
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Another 51 closures have already been announced for next year – and given recent trends it is likely far more closures will be announced in the coming weeks and months. Since February 2022 – when a voluntary agreement saw the major banking groups commit to assessing the impact of every closure – 1,541 banks have either shut or announced their intention to close.
That includes 1,335 that had closed by the end of last month – an average of around 44 closures per month, or 10 per week. The LINK initiative to assess the impact of closures – which was agreed by all the major banks including Barclays, HSBC, Natwest, Lloyds, and Halifax – was set up to ensure vulnerable customers and small businesses were not left behind in the switch to cashless payments and virtual banking.
When closures leave communities without any local bank, banking hubs or free ATMs are set up to fill the gap. The wave of bank closures has affected every part of the UK, with a total of 1,257 lost or about to close in England alone, plus another 145 in Scotland, 93 in Wales, 45 in Northern Ireland, and one in the Isle of Wight.
Around a quarter of those closures (436, or 28%) have left the surrounding community with no branch of any bank nearby.
The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has expressed concern over the mass closures, which it says “disproportionately impact small businesses and vulnerable consumers who depend on access to cash and in-person banking”. Bira CEO Andrew Goodacre said: “We are saddened by this wave of closures. Banks play a crucial role in supporting local businesses and maintaining the vibrancy of our high streets.
“Their presence is essential for both retailers and consumers who rely on cash transactions and face-to-face banking services.”
Bira is now actively campaigning to preserve bank branches or – at the bare minimum – establish banking hubs in every town and city. Mr Goodacre added: “We call on the new government and banking sector to take immediate action to ensure the long-term viability of cash access and in-person banking services across the UK.”
