20 July 2023 , 16:42
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Virgin Money has announced they will close a number of branches across the country due to "changing customer demand".
A total of 39 branches are to close, with Virgin saying each affected location closing its doors is less than half a mile from the nearest Post Office where customers can still carry out day-to-day transactions, like cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque deposits and balance enquiries, as well as coin exchange.
It comes amid a surge in banks closing branches across the country as customers choose to bank online more and more.
Virgin Money say the banks chosen to close have seen an average fall in customer use of 43 per cent since March 2020.
Sarah Wilkinson, chief operating officer at Virgin Money, said: "The decision to close a store is never taken lightly. "But as our customers continue to change the way they want to bank with us, by conducting fewer transactions in-store and adopting the convenience of digital banking, we must respond to that evolving demand.
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Virgin Money say the banks chosen to close have seen an average fall in customer use of 43% since March 2020 (NurPhoto via Getty Images)"For our colleagues, we will pursue all options to retain as many as possible within alternative roles, and have had great success previously with store colleagues moving to other customer operations roles, as their skills are highly transferable."
The full list of branches set to close:
- Belfast - 13 November
- Bournemouth - 7 November
- Brighton - 9 November
- Bristol - 1 November
- Bromley - 30 November
- Cambridge - 25 October
- Cardiff - 2 November
- Chelmsford - 20 November
- Cheltenham - 30 October
- Chester - 19 October
- Croydon - 13 November
- Derby - 17 October
- Durham - 6 November
- Ellon - 27 November
- Enfield - 21 November
- Exeter - 6 November
- Fort William Wednesday - 22 November
- Golders Green - 22 November
- Gosforth Centre - 8 November
- Guildford - 14 November
- Harrow - 23 November
- Hexham - 7 November
- Irvine, High Street - 20 November
- Kendal - 6 December
- Kensington - 27 November
- Kingston - 28 November
- Liverpool - 5 December
- Lochgilphead - 21 November
- London - Haymarket - 29 November
- Milton Keynes - 23 October
- Newton Stewart - 15 November
- Norwich - 26 October
- Oxford - 16 November
- Reading - 15 November
- Southampton - 8 November
- St Albans - 24 October
- Swindon - 31 October
- Turriff - 28 November
- Wolverhampton - 18 October
Once a staple of our high streets, it seems each month comes with a new round up of bank branches closing their doors for good, with the latest round-up announcing 44 more locations will shut this year and into 2024.
Which? suggests the number of banks and building societies that have closed, or have scheduled to close, is a total of 5,695 branches since January 2015. This works out at around 54 branches each month - and there are more coming this year.
Lloyds is closing at least 83 banks in total, while NatWest has 140 scheduled to shut their doors forever this year and into 2024. Barclays will shut 142 sites in 2023 and 2024, Halifax will shutter 47 branches in total and Santander will close five.
Barclays has also announced it will be closing 14 more of its branches later this year.
The banking giant is making the changes as the face of the high street continues to change and the latest raft of change doesn't include them. It has warned its customers that in the upcoming months many more branches around the country will be shutting for good.
The latest closures includes sites in Chapel Street, Easingwold, as well as 24 Market Place, Thirsk and 23 Yorkersgate, Malton. Other Barclays branches closing include The Twyn, Caerphilly and also 42 Wellfield Road, Roath Park, Cardiff.
Other sites shuttering for good include 16 High Street North, Dunstable and 2 Market Square, Leighton Buzzard. In the North West, sites at Unit 33, Arcades Shopping Centre, Ashton-under-Lyne and also Unit 2 Blue, Media City UK, Salford are closing.