UNION ANGER AS BANK GIANT TO CLOSE CITY BRANCH
Longton TSB shuts in September as part of UK cull
FINANCIAL giant TSB is shutting one of its two Stokeon-trent branches.
The closure of the Longton branch - on September 11 - will leave just the bank’s Hanley open in the city and one other across the whole of North Staffordshire.
TSB says customer transactions at the Market Street branch have fallen by 51 per cent over a four-year period and there is a post office or a free-to-use cash machine within a mile of the branch.
A TSB spokesman said: “We have not taken the decision to close our Longton branch lightly.
“But our customers are banking differently – with a clear shift to digital banking.”
The latest closure programme will see 36 TSB branches closed and 250 staff axed across the UK.
It will have 175 branches left including at Crown Bank, in Hanley and King Street in Biddulph.
TSB says 96 per cent of all its transactions now take place away from a branch - with a 43 per cent fall in customer transactions in the past four years.
The TSB spokesman added: “We need to move to a better balance of digital and faceto-face services.
“We remain committed to a national branch network and through innovation and integration with video, telephone, digital, branch and other face-to-face services TSB customers have more ways to bank with us than ever before.”
Union Unite has been angered by this week’s announcement.
Unite official Andy Case said: “The decision by TSB to cut 250 roles is a grave mistake.
“These workers perform essential work in the fraud departments and across the branch network.
“Through extensive negotiations Unite has been able to substantially reduce the number of jobs at risk.
“However, that isn’t sufficient, the union is pressing TSB to urgently reconsider its damaging bank branch closures plan.
“At a time when customers are increasingly concerned about financial fraud and often need support from a local bank branch this is the wrong course of action.”