Can’t remember the last time you went to your local bank branch? You’re not alone. Whether making a quick transfer or checking you haven’t miraculously become a millionaire overnight, millions of us now handle most of money-related matters online. And that’s having a knock-on effect on high-street banks, which are rapidly declining.
Barclays has closed down 77 branches this year alone, and in May Time Out reported that the Co-op bank could disappear entirely from high-streets in the next five years, joining the likes of Virgin Money, which also announced it was shutting its doors for good.
A whopping 5,800 high street physical banks have shut since 2015 in the UK, but some areas have been hit harder than others. A new study from consumer advice site Which? shows just how much bank closures are impacting areas across the UK, revealing which parliamentary constituencies have the lowest number of bank branches.
The area that’s been most-affected by these closures is Yorkshire, where 480 banks have closed since 2015, down from 728. That leaves 248 branches in the Yorkshire and Humber region for a population of 5.6 million people.
By the end of this year, Which? also calculated there will be 2.8 million people across 30 constituencies with no physical bank branch. Here are the 10 biggest constituencies that will soon be bank-less.
The 10 biggest places that will be without banks by the end of 2024
- Mid-Bedfordshire
- Erith and Thamesmead
- Colne Valley
- Reading West
- Nottingham East
- Bradford South
- Central Suffolk and North Ipswich
- Don Valley
- Wentworth and Dearne
- St Helens North
You can see Which’s? study on Yorkshire’s lack of banks here and find a full list of the constituencies that will soon be without a branch here.
More on Time Out and Which?
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Plus: British Airways is axing all flights from one of the UK’s ‘best’ airports.