High street blow for Calderdale as banks announce branch closures
THREE BANK branches in Calderdale are to close later this year.
Barclays Bank in Briggate, Brighouse, will close on Friday, June 5, while the Barclays branch on King Cross Road, Halifax, will shut its doors on Friday, June 12.
The Brighouse branch of the Yorkshire Bank is also set to be closed by the end of the year with its owners, Virgin Money, set to cut hundreds of jobs across the region.
The closure of Brighouse’s Barclays branch will leave customers in the town needing to travel more than four miles to their nearest branch, in Huddersfield or neighbouring Halifax.
A Barclays spokesperson said: “At Barclays in Brighouse and Halifax King Cross branches, customer usage has continued to decline and more than 75 per cent of our customers at all locations now regularly use online and telephone banking. “The number of branches will reduce but our branch network and the colleagues who work in them remain a vital part of our offering. With customers visiting our branches less and less each year, we must constantly assess how and why our branches are used and make decisions based on that insight. We hope the availability of our nearby branches and our telephone and digital channels will help to ease the transition.”
In a statement, Virgin Money, which merged with the Clydesdale
and Yorkshire Bank, said: “The decision to close branches is never taken lightly. “As our customers change the way they want to bank with us, we are evolving the role of our stores.”
* What’s your view on the bank branch closures? Email: yoursay@halifaxcourier.co.uk