SANTANDER has today announced plans to close 44 branches with financial experts saying it “risks isolating sections of the population”.
The bank claimed it is transforming its branch network in response to changing customer behaviour.
Closing branches will be replaced by Community Bankers, operating either from a Santander Local or, where required, a Banking Hub, to provide ongoing face-to-face support for communities, it added.
Following the changes, the refreshed Santander branch network will consist of 305 branches including 244 full-service branches, 19 counter-free branches, 36 reduced-hour branches, and six Work Cafés, alongside 111 Santander Locals.
A spokesperson for Santander UK, said: “In response to a continuing and sizeable shift towards customers using digital banking, we are making changes to our branches to better support our customers.
“We will continue to invest in both our branch network – comprising of full-service branches, counter-free branches, reduced-hour branches, Santander Locals, and our increasingly popular Work Cafés – as well as our digital banking services, so we can be there to support our customers however they choose to bank with us.”
Scroll down for the full list of closures
Michelle Lawson, Director at Fareham-based Lawson Financial, bemoaned the loss of traditional banking.
She added: “Traditional banking services have been lost and times change. We’re witnessing the end of the high street in most places, as well as of their role as community hubs.
“This affects mainly the elderly and rural communities as banking shifts further into the digital age.”
Kate Underwood, Founder at Southampton-based Kate Underwood HR and Training, said branches are still needed.
She added: “Bank branch closures aren’t progress for small businesses. They’re just passing the pain down the line. I get it. Loads of people bank on their phones now. But plenty of UK small firms still need a real counter. Paying in cash and coins. Getting change. Sorting cheques.
“Having an actual conversation about lending. Fixing a frozen account quickly when you’ve got wages to run and suppliers chasing. Community Bankers and Banking Hubs might help, but they’re not the same as a branch you can walk into when something’s gone wrong and you need it sorted today, not in three to five working days.
“And it’s not just ‘a bank’ disappearing. It’s footfall and confidence on the high street. It’s you having to travel further to do basic admin, taking time off the tools, carrying cash around (hello risk), and adding another job to your already ridiculous list. For small business owners, this lands as lost time, more hassle, and more exposure. Especially if you’re in retail or hospitality.”
Traditional banking services have been lost
Rob Mansfield, Independent Financial Advisor at Tonbridge-based Rootes Wealth Management, said many are being left behind by the march of technology.
He continued: “Whilst many people may be comfortable using online or mobile banking, there are people who either can’t or won’t use it. The relentless march of branch closures risks isolating sections of the population, particularly the elderly and disabled.
“Banking hubs are an important step and the banks should work together at speed to develop these so that customers can have a choice of banks and not have the constant anxiety that their branch is about to disappear off the high street.”
Ranald Mitchell, Director at Norwich-based Charwin Mortgages, said branches are a “practical lifeline”.
He added: “Digital first can’t mean community last. Closing 44 Santander branches is a logical response to changing behaviour, with the vast majority of day-to-day banking now done online. But a branch isn’t just a transaction point, it’s a safety net for older and vulnerable customers, and a practical lifeline for local firms that still rely on cash, and face-to-face support.
“If these closures are to work, Community Bankers and Banking Hubs must be properly staffed, easy to access and genuinely empowered to fix problems, not simply redirect people to an app. This has to be transformation with a conscience, not efficiency at the expense of inclusion.”
Classic corporate smokescreen
Rohit Parmar-Mistry, Founder at Burton-on-Trent-based Pattrn Data, questioned the motives for closing branches.
He continued: “‘Changing customer behaviour’ is the classic corporate smokescreen. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: you strip branches of functionality, slash opening hours, and force people onto apps, then feign surprise when ‘nobody uses branches anymore’. In our audits of digital projects, we see this pattern repeatedly.
“Firms aren’t automating to improve the customer experience; they’re doing it to cut costs, banking on the hope that an app can replace human empathy and complex problem-solving. It rarely does. Replacing full branches with ‘Community Bankers’ is just a sticking plaster.
“We’ve been conditioned to accept zero service. Whether it’s fighting a chatbot for 20 minutes or visiting a hollowed-out branch that can’t actually process transactions, the friction is often intentional. This isn’t modernisation, it’s the managed decline of service standards. If you make the physical experience useless, of course people stop coming. That’s not a shift in behaviour, it’s a removal of choice.”
Kathryn Read, Business consultant at Kathryn Read Consulting, said aspects of society will struggle.
She added: “This will hit elderly or rural customers hard. Of course it’s understandable that the majority of bank traffic is now online, however I went with one of my parents to a Santander branch last August.
“Mid morning, during the week and the queue was out of the door…just proving that a need is certainly there. It took the girl at the counter around 20 minutes to deal with our requests, after we’d waited almost an hour to reach the front of the queue.
“Everyone was there with more complicated questions and most were elderly people who certainly don’t feel confident doing their banking on the phone, never mind online. Keeping a certain high street presence is definitely important for now at least.”
Hit elderly or rural customers hard
Samuel Mather-Holgate, Managing Director & IFA at Swindon-based Mather and Murray Financial, said people need to accept that high street bank branches are not useful anymore.
He continued: “The public need to get used to bank closures, the 21st century has been upon us for some time now, and archaic facilities to your local teller should be a thing of the past.
“You can even deposit a cheque on your iPhone now, so as long as there are a couple of banking options in your nearest large town or city this will suffice for the audience it serves. Santander is just the latest to catch up, and this should help its profitability.”
The full list of closures:
Andover
Banbridge
Bangor
Berwick Upon Tweed
Bishop Auckland
Boston
Bridgend
Bridgwater
Cwmbran
Enniskillen
Evesham
Glengormley
Golders Green
Gosport
Haverfordwest
Heswall
Huntingdon
Kirkintilloch
Leighton Buzzard
Leyland
Liskeard
Macclesfield
Mansfield
Melton Mowbray
Merthyr Tydfil
Mold
Newbury
Newton Abbot
Northallerton
Ormskirk
Pontefract
Ramsgate
Redditch
Ringwood
Scunthorpe
Shirley
Stafford
Stranraer
Stratford Upon Avon
Tonbridge
Welwyn Garden City
Whitehaven
Wilmslow
Woking
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.
