Lloyds Bank has announced the closure of its Abingdon branch on 8 Ock Street. The closure is scheduled for July 24th, 2024.
Lloyds Banking Group announced plans to close 176 branches across the UK in 2024 and 2025. The closures reflect a national trend towards online banking. The Didcot and Oxford branches will remain.
The closure is likely to be a blow to the elderly or those less comfortable with technology. Lloyds say after the branch closes, a Community Banker will be available to support customers in the local area one day a week.
In 2023, Lloyds were granted planning permission to demolish the existing rear extension and build 8 new flats without parking. The commercial unit on Ock Street will be reduced in size.
This follows the closure of Barclays, over the road from Lloyds, in February 2024, where the signs and cash machine are gone.
Ahh yes…..”the bank that is always there for you”…..the bank that we, the taxpayer, bailed out in 2009 and has continually funded and paid for the cynical adverts telling us that they are always there for us…..beyond cynicism…..
I rarely use my bank branch in town and can understand why they find it difficult to justify employing staff there. How practical would it be for all the banks to club together, rent one central set of premises between them, and have their Community Bankers working out of there, in separate offices, for a number of days per week ? ATM machines issue cash to anyone with a card from any bank so that would not be a problem.
Yes, I can speak to advisors on the phone but it is often quicker and easier to do it in person with all documents to hand.
Whenever I used to go into Barclays in Abingdon (either Marcham Road or The Square) they used to tell me I didn’t need to come into branch to do what I was doing and could do it online instead!
I moved my accounts from Lloyds to Nationwide a while ago and I couldn’t be happier with the move. Nationwide have made a commitment to keep branches open and they don’t use your money for financing toxic fosssil fuels and dodgy infrastructure.
Who’s next from the remaining few banks in town then? NatWest? Santander?
Banks, like governments, should be constantly reminded that they have no money. It is their customers’ money – or, in the case of governments – their citizens’ money. When banks started negative equity mortgages, their probity was lost and the writing was on the wall. Lose sight of the small borrowers and investors and, as sure as eggs are eggs, you head for a fall.
And what a kick in the teeth for the cashiers at the tills.
Thank you Backstreeter for reporting this news, which many people (including customers of LLoyds) would not have known about. Having followed the link you posted I have to admit that I am puzzled that two individuals, who live in Faringdon, applied for on 8th June 2023, and were later granted (despite Abingdon Town Council’s objections) permission on 20th October 2023 to change the rear part of the Bank’s premises into flats. I do wonder how these two people knew of the Bank’s intentions over one year before the announcement of the Bank Closure, and many months before the residents of Abingdon, or the customers of LLoyds, were aware of these plans.
I recently read a news article called “Nearly half of UK families excluded from modern digital society, study finds” (Googleable)
Ofcom did a survey in January 2024 and found that 28% of UK households (Around 8 million households) have difficulty affording communication services. That’s broadband or a mobile phone contract with sufficient data to use the internet easily.
On top of this there are people who just aren’t internet savvy and struggle with using the internet, or they don’t have a smartphone. (One elder in my family refuses to get one, for example) It’s sad for these people to lose their local bank branch – I think that the shared use building where you can get help from multiple banking companies sounds a good idea – I do wonder if those companies would be happy to collaborate though, even though it would save them cash!
Still on LLoyds but regarding The Clock House which is/was where their Private Banking office was based I note that planning permission has been granted to convert The Clock House into residential