Barclays, NatWest and Lloyds customers issued warning in 388 towns

Labour has warned that many communities have been turned into ’banking deserts’ as branches disappear from high streets without there being any alternatives nearby

Almost 400 towns have been told their last local bank is closing in the past two years, figures show.

Labour has warned that many communities have been turned into “banking deserts” as branches disappear from high streets. Since the start of 2022, the major banks have announced the closure of 388 branches in places where there are no alternatives nearby. 

Towns such as Westhoughton in Bolton, Chapeltown in Sheffield and Todmorden in Calderdale are now entirely without in-person banking services close to home.

Campaigners have warned of the negative impact of bank closures on older people. Age UK has said that many people are at risk of financial exclusion as they are not able to manage their money online. And business groups have raised concerns about how many small firms are losing time as they are having to travel further to pay in money. 

A total of at least 245 bank branches are set to close in 2024. The major banks including Barclays, HSBC, Natwest, Lloyds, and Halifax have all announced closures as they cut costs as more people move to online banking.

The Government has promised to introduce banking hubs, but so far only 40 have been opened.

The facilities, which are run by the Post Office, have a counter service where customers of all main banks can withdraw and deposit cash, make bill payments, and carry out regular banking transactions. They also have areas where staff from different banks are available on different days.

Roughly 100 hubs are expected to be opened by the end of the year, but Labour has said it would go further by guaranteeing the opening of at least 350.

Tulip Siddiq, Labour’s Shadow City Minister, said: “The Government’s failure to roll-out banking hubs has left Britain’s high streets in decline and cut off hundreds of thousands of people and small businesses from the services they need. Almost 6,000 bank branches have closed their doors since 2015, but under the Conservatives just 40 banking hubs are operational, despite many towns being promised new banking services months ago.

“Labour’s plan will bring banking services back to communities who have seen them disappear over recent years, meaning more people and small businesses across the country will be able to access the services they need closer to home. Labour will tackle ghost high streets and ensure that every community has access to high street banking services.”

Neighbourhoods where last bank branch has closed or is closing

Abbey Road, Ealing

Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross

Aberfoyle, Stirling

Abergele, Wales

Abertillery, Wales

Acomb, York

Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge

Alderley Edge, Cheshire

Aldersgate Street, City of London

Alnwick, Northumberland

Ampthill, Buckinghamshire

Ascot, Berkshire

Auchterarder, Scotland

Aviemore, Highland

Avonmouth, Bristol

Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

Bacup, Lancashire

Bakewell, Derbyshire

Ballater, Aberdeenshire

Ballynahinch, Newry

Bargoed, Caerphilly

Barnard Castle, County Durham

Bath Road, Cheltenham

Batley, West Yorkshire

Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire

Beckton, Newham

Bedale, Hambleton

Bentham, Craven

Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne

Biggin Hill, Bromley

Bilborough, Nottingham

Bilbrook, South Staffordshire

Birkenhead - Moreton, Merseyside

Bishop Auckland, County Durham

Bishop’s Waltham, Winchester

Blackheath, Lewisham

Bodmin, Cornwall

Borrowash, Erewash

Boundary Road, Norwich

Brackley, South Northamptonshire

Braemar, Aberdeenshire

Bramford Road, Ipswich

Bramhall, Lancashire

Bretton Centre, Peterborough

Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire

Bristol Road, Gloucester

Broadwater, Worthing

Bromyard, Herefordshire

Broxburn, West Lothian

Builth Wells, Powys

Burnham-on-Crouch, Maldon

Burntisland, Fife

Cadishead, Salford

Caldicot, Monmouthshire

Callington, Cornwall

Calne, Wiltshire

Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston

Carlton, Gedling

Carnforth, Lancaster

Catterick Garrison, Richmondshire

Central Circus, Barnet

Chadwell Heath, Redbridge

Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire

Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh

Chapeltown, Sheffield

Cheadle, Stockport

Cheddar, Sedgemoor

Cheshunt, Broxbourne

Chesterton Road, Cambridge

Chigwell, Redbridge

Chingford, London

Chipping Camden, Cotswold

Chipping Norton, West Oxfordshire

Chislehurst, Bromley

Cinderford, Forest of Dean

City Office Park, Lincoln

Civic Realm Leisure Centre, Glasgow City

Clarkston, East Renfrewshire

Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire

Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire

Clepington Road, Dundee

Clogher, Mid Ulster

Cobham, Elmbridge

Cockermouth, Allerdale

College Place, Southampton

Comber, Ards and North Down

Comber, Northern Ireland

Corringham, Thurrock

Coulsdon, Croydon

Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan

Cradley Heath, Sandwell

Crediton, Mid Devon

Crieff, Scotland

Crumlin, Antrim and Newtownabbey

Cuffley, Welwyn Hatfield

Cults, Aberdeen City

Cumnock, Scotland

Darlaston, Walsall

Dartmouth, Devon

Darwen, Lancashire

Dawlish, Devon

Denbigh, Denbighshire

Denton, Tameside

Dinnington, South Yorkshire

Downend, South Gloucestershire

Downham Market, Norfolk

Drayton, Norfolk

Dunbar, East Lothian

Dunblane, Stirling

Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross

Dunmurry, Belfast

Duns, Scottish Borders

Dyce, Aberdeen City

Earl’s Court Road, Kensington and Chelsea

Earlestown, Merseyside

East Dulwich, Southwark

East Horsley, Guildford

Eckington, North East Derbyshire

Edgbaston Park Road, Edgbaston

Elland, West Yorkshire

Ellon, Aberdeenshire

Emersons Green Retail Park, Bristol

Enfield North, Greater London

Epworth, North Lincolnshire

Esher, Elmbridge

Euston Road, Camden

Eyemouth, Scottish Borders

Falkland, Fife

Ferryhill, County Durham

Filey, North Yorkshire

Filton, South Gloucestershire

Finchley Road, Camden

Fivemiletown, Mid Ulster

Fleet Street, City of London

Flitwick, Central Bedfordshire

Forest Gate, Newham

Forge Corner, Blaby

Fort Augustus, Highland

Framlingham, East Suffolk

Fulwell, Sunderland

Garforth, Leeds

Gatwick Road, Crawley

Gerrards Cross, Hertfordshire

Girvan, Scotland

Glasgow, Glasgow City

Gogarburn, City of Edinburgh

Govan, Glasgow City

Grafton Gate East, Milton Keynes

Great Harwood, Lancashire

Great North Road, Doncaster

Greenwich Church Street, Greenwich

Guiseley, Leeds

Hadleigh, Castle Point

Halliwell Road, Bolton

Haltwhistle, Northumberland

Harleston, Norfolk

Hatfield, Hertfordshire

Haverhill, Suffolk

Haxby, York

Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire

Headingley, Leeds

Headington, Oxford

Heald Green, Stockport

Heartsease, Norwich

Heathfield, Wealden

Hemsworth, Wakefield

Heslington, York

Hessle, East Yorkshire

Heywood, Lancashire

High Holborn, Camden

Hills Road, Cambridge

Hinckley Road, Leicester

Histon, South Cambridgeshire

Holloway Road, Islington

Holmes Chapel, Cheshire

Holmfirth, Kirklees

Holsworthy, Torridge

Holt, Norfolk

Holywood, Ards and North Down

Horfield, Bristol

Hoveton, Norfolk

Hoyland Nether, Barnsley

Hull, Kingston Upon Hull

Hunt’s Cross, Liverpool

Hyson Green, Nottingham

Hythe, New Forest

Ilminster, South Somerset

Immingham, North East Lincolnshire

Innerleithen, Scottish Borders

Intake, Sheffield

Isleworth, Hounslow

Jedburgh, Scotland

Keswick, Allerdale

Keynsham, Somerset

Kidlington, Cherwell

Kidsgrove, Newcastle-under-Lyme

Kilcreggan, Argyll and Bute

Kilwinning, Scotland

Kings Square, Belfast

Kingsland Centre, Thatcham

Kingstanding Road, Birmingham

Kingsway, Gateshead

Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire

Kirkby Stephen, Eden

Knowle, Solihull

Ladbroke Grove, Kensington and Chelsea

Langley, Slough

Larkfield, Kent

Leeds Road, Bradford

Leiston, East Suffolk

Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire

Leyburn, Richmondshire

Lincoln Road, Peterborough

Liphook, East Hampshire

Lisnaskea, Fermanagh and Omagh

Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire

Llangollen, Denbighshire

Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan

Lochmaddy, Isle Of North Uist

Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway

London Road, Warrington

Longbridge Town Centre, Birmingham

Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon

Lyndhurst, New Forest

Lytham St Annes, Fylde

Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire

Maghera, Mid Ulster

Malpas, Cheshire West and Chester

Malvern Link, Malvern Hills

Manningtree, Tendring

Market Bosworth, Hinckley and Bosworth

Market Rasen, Lincolnshire

Market Weighton, East Yorkshire

Marylebone High Street, Westminster

Media City UK, Salford

Middleton in Teesdale, County Durham

Mildenhall, Suffolk

Mildenhall, West Suffolk

Mill Hill, Barnet

Millport, North Ayrshire

Mirfield, Kirklees

Morriston, Swansea

Mount Pleasant Road, Shropshire

Mountain Ash, Wales

Mumbles, Swansea

Nailsea, North Somerset

New Line, Bradford

New Mills, High Peak

New Ollerton, Newark and Sherwood

New Romney, Folkestone and Hythe

New Rossington, South Yorkshire

Newburn, Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Newcastleton, Scottish Borders

Newton Road, Torbay

Norbury, Lambeth

Normanton, Wakefield

Old Fletton, Peterborough

Ormeau Road, Belfast

Ossett, West Yorkshire

Otley, West Yorkshire

Oundle, East Northamptonshire

Oxted, Tandridge

Parkhouse Industrial Estate, Newcastle-under-Lyme

Pemberton, Wigan, Wigan

Penge, Bromley

Pershore, Worcestershire

Pickering, Ryedale

Pollokshields, Glasgow City

Port Glasgow, Inverclyde

Port Sunlight, Wirral

Portadown, Armagh City

Portrush, Northern Ireland

Poulton-Le-Fylde, Wyre

Prenton, Wirral

Prescot, Merseyside

Prestwich, Bury

Queen Elizabeth II Square, Chelmsford

Queensferry Road, Edinburgh

Radlett, Hertsmere

Ramsbottom, Lancashire

Renfrew, Renfrewshire

Rhyd-Y-Penau, Cardiff

Richmond, North Yorkshire

Risca, Wales

Rothbury, Northumberland

Rothwell, Leeds

Royston, Hertfordshire

Rubery, Bromsgrove

Saintfield, Newry

Saltash, Cornwall

Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland

Seaham, County Durham

Seahouses, Northumberland

Selkirk, Scottish Borders

Settle, Craven

Sheffield, Sheffield

Shenfield, Brentwood

Shepton Mallet, Mendip

Sherborne, Dorset

Shirebrook, Derbyshire

Shotts, North Lanarkshire

Slaithwaite, Kirklees

South Elmsall, West Yorkshire

South End, Croydon

South Kensington, Kensington and Chelsea

South Molton, North Devon

Southampton, Fareham

Southsea, Portsmouth

Southwick, Adur

Southwold, East Suffolk

St David’s, Pembrokeshire

St Ives, Cornwall

St Johns, Colchester

St Oswald’s Retail Park, Gloucester

St Thomas Centre, Exeter

Stafford Road, Wolverhampton

Stalybridge, Lancashire

Station Parade, Brent

Station Road, Brighton

Stone, Staffordshire

Strathaven, South Lanarkshire

Stromness, Orkney Islands

Summertown, Oxford

Sutton Road, Maidstone

Swanley, Sevenoaks

Swansea - Morriston, Wales

Swinton, Salford

Tadcaster, Selby

Talbot Green, Rhondda Cynon Taf

Tarbert, Argyll and Bute

Teddington, Richmond upon Thames

Teignmouth, Devon

Tenby, Pembrokeshire

The Crescent, Colchester

The Forum, North Kesteven

The Sandlings, Ipswich

Thorne, South Yorkshire

Tilehurst, Reading

Tiptree, Colchester

Todmorden, Calderdale

Tonypandy, Rhondda Cynon Taf

Tower Bridge Road, Southwark

Trafford Centre, Manchester

Tranent, East Lothian

Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent

Treorchy, Wales

Tumble, Carmarthenshire

Ulverston, Cumbria

Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast

Uppingham Road, Leicester

Verwood, Dorset

Walsgrave Road, Coventry

Wanstead, Redbridge

Ware, Hertfordshire

Warrenpoint, Newry

Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland

Waterside, Derry City and Strabane

Wath Upon Dearne, South Yorkshire

Wembley, Brent

Weoley Castle, Birmingham

West Drayton, Greater London

West Kirby, Merseyside

West Mersea, Essex

Western International Market, Southall

Westhoughton, Bolton

Westhoughton, Lancashire

Wetherby, North Yorkshire

Whickham, Gateshead

Whickham, Gateshead

Whitby, North Yorkshire

Whitefriars, Norwich

Whiteladies Road, Bristol

Wickersley, Rotherham

Willesden Green, Greater London

Williton, Somerset West and Taunton

Wimborne Road, Bournemouth

Withernsea, East Yorkshire

Withington, Manchester

Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes

Wolseley Road, Plymouth

Wombourne, South Staffordshire

Woolton, Liverpool

Wotton-Under-Edge, Stroud

Yarm, Stockton-on-Tees 

Yeadon, Leeds

Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly

Ystradgynlais, Powys

David Wilson