Angry Reaction to Barclays Bank Closure Plan


Last bank on the High Street set to shut in June

Barclays Bank on Brentford High Street
Barclays Bank on Brentford High Street

Calls are being made for Barclays Bank to reconsider the planned closure of its branch on High Street Brentford leaving the town centre without a bank or a Post Office.

The bank has announced its intention to close the local branch on Wednesday 2 June saying that it could identify just 93 individuals who used the branch exclusively for their banking needs.

It says that customer behaviour has been changing in recent years which has reduced the number of counter transactions and this trend is expected to continue.

Figures published by the bank show that 2,528 people were classed as regular users of the branch because they made more than three visits in a year and 516 were classed as heavy users because they visited more than 12 times. The numbers for business users were 340 and 127 respectively. The bank argues that many of these customers were already using other branches and most had access to telephone or online banking.

Barclays is suggesting the Post Offices on the South Ealing Road and Strand on the Green Chiswick as alternatives for face to face banking and points out that there are still free ATMs at Food Link nearby and at Morrisons.

Ruth Cadbury MP said, ”This branch is a vital link both for residents locally, but also businesses who rely on the bank. I’ve already arranged a meeting with Barclays and I will be making clear to them the serious and damaging impact that this will have on local residents and businesses in Brentford.

“I know that Hounslow Council and elected councillors are already working hard along with Brentford Voice, to ensure that Brentford continues to have an accessible high street bank.

“Along with the loss of the post office on Brentford High Street I am extremely concerned that we are seeing essential public services being lost from our high street. This will force people to travel long distances to carry out basic services and will cause greatly difficulty for those unable to travel, or bank online or via the phone. I’m particularly concerned about the impact this will have on older customers, and those with disabilities.

“I will also be raising this directly with the Government- it is clear that we need a pro-active approach to support our high streets and vital community assets such as these.’’

Brentford Voice has launched a petition against the closure and says it expects Barclays Bank to acknowledge their social and economic responsibility to the community, individuals and businesses in Brentford, and to reconsider the intended branch closure.

It adds, “Many in our community, including the most vulnerable, have no access to online banking facilities and they would find it very difficult indeed to conduct their affairs at other bank branches. During the current Covid crisis it is particularly inappropriate to require customers to travel considerable distances, often by public transport.

“In recent years, Brentford has experienced very considerable increases in population and this growth will accelerate in the coming few years. We would suggest that the imminent closure of this branch is entirely inappropriate and may, in the fullness of time, be regarded as a very poor business decision.”

A spokesperson for Barclays said, “With more customers choosing to bank in different ways, we are carefully reducing the number of under-used branches we have.”

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

March 10, 2021