Following letters from Eltham Conservative’s Charlie Davis, Halifax, Nationwide and Santander have confirmed in responses to him that they have no plans to close their existing branches in Eltham.
Charlie wrote to the three banks which retain branches on Eltham High Street following Natwest’s decision to close it’s local branch on 20th August 2024. All three responded with clear statements that there were no current plans to close their Eltham branches and in Nationwide’s case they also confirmed no plans to reduce opening hours either.
Santander responded by stating that “Santander has no existing plans to close any of our UK branches, including our branch in Eltham.” It also confirmed that it is committed to training staff to help ensure that there will be no need for future branch closures and mentioned its commitment to ensuring those people who wanted to use cash would be able to do so with the support of Santander.
Halifax were less effusive about the future of their Eltham branch stating that
“There are currently no plans to close our Eltham branch. However, I hope you will understand that we do keep our branch network under constant review, so we can never guarantee that a particular branch will not close at some point.”
As was mentioned in the previous post, the Nationwide Building Society has committed to retaining all branches until 2028 so their response simply confirmed this policy.
Charlie commented “It is great news that all three of the remaining banks in Eltham have committed to keeping their branches open. However, I think it is important to recognise that in all cases this could change so I reiterate my plea for customers who value face to face banking our community to switch their accounts to one of the three remaining banks in Eltham. Banks will only understand that we value branches if their customers reward those who choose to stay on the High Street rather than moving their services online where it can be harder to speak to someone if you have a problem.”
Despite Natwest’s claims that its bank was not being used, it was clear many customers still value a branch as there was a queue outside waiting for it to open in July this year.
