So disappointing that the day after we were celebrating the good news about Wychavon District Council acquiring the Riverside Shopping centre in Evesham, we hear about the imminent closure of another bank in the town. Santander have announced that their bank on Bridge Street, Evesham, will close on April 28th.
I hope that those who work at the bank will be redeployed or find alternative employment quickly. 291 jobs are at risk across all 44 branch closures that Santander just announced.
But as well as those who work in the bank, this new will also be a blow to the many customers who use the bank's services.
We all know that more and more people are performing their banking online, but I know that many of my constituents prefer the face-to face-services. Some have complex needs, businesses often need to deposit cash, and many people remain digitally excluded.
So there is still a need for face to face banking.
I shall be making these points clear to Santander and appeal to them to continue to provide some form of physical banking services in the town, as other banks have done that have closed down. Santander has confirmed to me that they plan to maintain some face-to-face services in the form of a new ‘Santander Local’, which will be staffed by a Community Banker one day a week. But we still need to know further details (such as when, where and for how long?).
Luckily we still have some other banks operating in the town. But if more close, this will increase the need for a banking hub (one of which has just opened in Droitwich) where all the major banks have recently closed down but consolidated services from multiple banks are now provided in one shared service location/ hub.
I commit to working with Link and Cash Access UK (who assess the need for and deliver banking hubs) if this scenario looks likely.
Evesham Santander branch set to close - The Evesham Observer