Lloyds Bank in Burnham-On-Sea could be turned into a new community banking hub under proposals to retain some banking services in the town centre.
It comes after we reported here that Lloyds Bank in Burnham High Street will shut down on November 13th, 2024 due to declining use caused by a rise in digital transactions.
Burnham and Highbridge town councillors have voted unanimously at their latest council meeting to set up a new group to pursue the proposal.
Mayor Cllr Sharon Perry said at the meeting: “In response to Lloyds leaving Burnham, we have been in discussion about banking hubs in other towns and trying to explore the possibility of getting one here in Burnham. It might be an uphill struggle but it has been achieved in other towns.”
Councillors approved setting up a new ‘task and finish group’ to explore the proposal and potentially apply for a community banking hub. Cllrs Millard and Perry will lead the group and others with an interest will be involved.
Community banking hubs are often run by the Post Office and operate with representatives from the big banks – Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC, Barclays and Santander – on site at various times of the week. They offer help covering issues such as arranging mortgages, helping with financial scams through to lasting powers of attorney.
Nationwide will become the last bank in Burnham-On-Sea after Lloyds closes. Local businesses are concerned about this since Nationwide does not offer business banking.
A spokesperson explained the Burnham closure: “The world is becoming more digital than ever before and more of our customers are doing their everyday banking online. With more customers banking digitally, we’ve seen a fall in branch visits. Because of this, we’ve decided to close this branch.”
Lloyds told Burnham-On-Sea.com that just “332 customers used the Burnham-On-Sea branch regularly in the 12 months to July 2023.”
Nat West shut down its Burnham-On-Sea branch in October 2017. And Barclays Bank also closed its Burnham-On-Sea branch in 2018. HSBC also shut its branch in Burnham-On-Sea during 2017.
