The town left on its knees after losing ALL of its six banks in four years
THE widespread closure of bank branches is sabotaging high streets up and down the country. And some banks, rather than rallying to support communities hit by lockdown and the pandemic, are now shamefully using this as an excuse to shut even more, The Mail on Sunday has discovered.
Four years ago Ware, in Hertfordshire, was a bustling market town with half a dozen banks serving the 19,000-strong community. But the banks have fallen like dominoes – first HSBC, then NatWest, Santander and Lloyds. Then, during lockdown, Barclays shut up shop while the final bank in town, TSB, has ‘temporarily closed’ its branch. The result? Not one bank in town. TOBY WALNE reports from bankless Ware.
EXODUS CREATES A GHOST TOWN
A BLUE plaque is proudly displayed on the side of the abandoned HSBC branch. It reveals the bank was built on the site of the 1426 White Hart Inn. This once famous coach house was home to the haunted ‘Great Bed of Ware’ – which could sleep four couples and was so notorious it was mentioned i n Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night.
This huge four-poster is now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but the spirit that haunted it remains on Ware’s sorry high street.
Kim Bradbury is the owner of Blo By Blo – a hairdresser opposite the site of the HSBC branch. She says: ‘We are surviving in a ghost town now – thanks to banks quitting when we needed them most.
‘I used HSBC and I was annoyed when it shut as it always seemed so busy. I inquired about moving my salon there when it shut down, but it would not rent it out to me.’
Since then bank branches have fallen swiftly along a 100-metre stretch of Ware’s high street. After HSBC began the exodus four years ago, it was followed by NatWest two years later, and Santander and Lloyds, both last year.
Then, with the Covid-19 crisis, Barclays shut its branch and TSB ‘temporarily closed’ its premises.
A sign on the outside of TSB’s building states: ‘We’ve closed this branch until further notice due to Covid-19 social distancing requirements.’ There is no apology or hint as to when it might reopen – nor any explanation as to why such ‘requirements’ apply to this branch but not others of a similar size.
Rather than be transformed into swanky wine bars or trendy coffee shops, as happened to abandoned sites in the past, every bank branch in Ware remains empty and looks in a sorry state – shuttered up with windows that are painted over and rusting iron covers on holes that once housed cash machines.
PERMANENT DAMAGE TO THE COMMUNITY
UNDERSTANDABLY, locals are furious about the way banks have abandoned their community without consultation – or considering the permanent damage they have wrought. Brydie Taylor wanted to open a savings account for her son, Onyx, on his first birthday last week. The 28- year- old designer says: ‘The greedy banks trot out the same excuse that online banking is the future and anyone who does not get involved is a dinosaur.
‘Well, I am young and internet savvy, but I have no interest in internet banking. I want to deal with real, friendly bank branch staff that can help me sort out my finances. Branch closures are just about saving money and taking away choice.’
The surviving shops on Ware’s high street report that the number of visitors has fallen by more than half since the banks all shut. This has been exacerbated by an overzealous council erecting bollards everywhere that proclaim: ‘Traffic management in place to promote social distancing.’
Some say this has deterred many people from coming into the town centre and has been a contributory factor in the recent closures of a Greggs bakery and travel agency.