Anger as Holt becomes latest Norfolk town to lose its last bank with Barclays closing

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The Barclays branch is closing in December Credit: ITV Anglia

Another town is losing its only remaining bank and locals are angry it will leave themwithout a cash machine.

According to Link, at least 277 bank branches are due to close by the end of 2022, ascustomers increasingly use online and telephone banking.

Barclays has announced that it will be closing its branch in the north Norfolk town of Holt, in December. The town is a favourite shopping stop off for some members of the royal family when they are staying at Sandringham.

The bank says transactions have halved in the last two years. However, local people andbusinesses have expressed concern as the branch also has the town's only cash machine which is available 24 hours a day.

Last month Barclays confirmed the closure of 27 other branches across the UK, includingPeterborough, Corby, Saffron Walden, Dunmow and Felixstowe.

Barclays is the last bank left in the town, and the only place with a cash machine available 24 hours a day Credit: ITV Anglia

A Barclays spokesperson said: “We recognise some customers aren’t yet ready to make the transition to digital, and that’s why Barclays is one of the driving forces behind sharedbanking infrastructure, and supports the Cash Action Group to ensure that where customers still require physical provision of cash access, industry provides it.

“We continue to review and adjust our branch footprint to ensure it reflects the way that our customers are increasingly choosing to do their banking."

Holt had already lost its branch of Santander, which closed in 2019, after the bank’s research found that 92 per cent of customers there already used other banking methods.

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According to the Which, banks and building societies have closed (or scheduled the closure) of 4,976 branches since January 2015, at a rate of around 54 each month.

The NatWest Group, which comprises NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank,will have closed 1,154 branches by the end of 2022 – the most of any banking group.

Lloyds Banking Group, made up of Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, has shutdown 770 sites, rising to 858 in 2022.

Barclays is the individual bank that has reduced its network the most, with 867 brancheshaving closed - or scheduled to - by the end of 2022.

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