Major British bank is axing six branches this week after announcing 55 closures in huge blow to high street
A MAJOR British bank is set to close down six of its branches in coming days, following announcement that 55 would be shut for good.
NatWest is having six more of its branches shut down this week in a huge blow to high streets and their financial customers.
1
Multiple locations of the bank have already closed down around the country this month.
In addition, more than 6,000 bank branches are reported to have permanently closed in the UK since 2015, according to consumer champion Which?.
In a statement, NatWest explained: "Our customers are using digital banking more than ever before – over 80 per cent of our active current account holders now use our digital services, and over 97 per cent of retail accounts with us are now opened online.
"Like any business, we strive to meet our customers' changing needs and expectations, and we've been responding to the industry-wide shift towards digital services by investing to broaden what customers can do themselves and to offer them greater personalisation.
"We are also significantly investing in refreshing our network – we expect to invest in excess of £20 million in our network across the UK in 2025 to improve customer service, enhance the look and feel of our branches, and reduce the environmental impact of our buildings, as well as continuing to invest in shared solutions like the Post Office and Banking Hubs."
Closures of NatWest branches are expected to continue through to February 2026.
As it scales back on its face-to-face services, the bank hopes to modernise its services and reduce environmental impact.
MPs have called on banks and building societies to ensure high streets and areas hit by these closures have minimal impact.
Deputy editor of Which?Money, Sam Richardson, added: "This milestone of more than 6,000 bank branch closures in just nine years underscores the seismic shift that has taken place in terms of our banking habits and the character of the British high street.
"While some may hardly notice the closure of their local branch as they seamlessly switch to online banking, for others reliant on face-to-face services, the impact can be disastrous."
NatWest to close 53 bank branches in fresh blow to UK high street – see if your local is affected
Research has shown 39 per cent of people aged over 65 do not use online banking, putting them at high risk of financial exclusion.
Customers are urged to check if their local branch is on the chopping block and prepare for alternative ways to bank.
NatWest are said to provide temporary support for transitions to their new network in select locations, with 12-week Community Pop-Ups.
Their move comes amid wider industry trends in which many major high street banks have closed hundreds of their branches between them.
Banks have largely blamed this shifts on declining footfall and a steady shift towards more online and mobile banking that is causing their locations to close.
Full list of NatWest bank closures in June 2025
Alfreton (June 2)
Accrington (June)
Uttoxeter (June 2)
Mexborough (June 3)
Heaton Chapel (June 3)
Ellesmere Port (June 4)
Stockton-on-Tees (June 4)
Accrington (June 5)
Longton (June 5)
Leeds, Cross Gates (June 10)
Rochdale (June 10)
Bridlington (June 11)
Manchester (June 11)
Keighley (June 16)
Leek (June 16)
Newark-on-Trent (June 17)
Washington (June 17)
Worksop (June 18)
Nantwich (June 19)
Stockport, Hazel Grove (June 19)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
32 minutes ago
- BBC News
Rockcliffe gas plant firm plan to appeal Cumberland Council refusal
A company which saw its plans to build a gasification plant refused by a council is to appeal the Regeneration had wanted to build the energy from waste plant in Rockcliffe, Cumbria, but its plans were denied by Cumberland Council despite being recommended for Labour-led council rejected the proposals on Friday on the grounds that the impact on human health was Regeneration said studies it had commissioned by independent experts had concluded there was "no detrimental impact on human health or the environment". A spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the reports had been reviewed by a number of bodies, including the council's environmental health team, the Environment Agency, Natural England and the UK Health Security Agency."This decision was made despite the planning officer's recommendation to approve the application, a 250-page report, 18 months of due diligence, and the appointment of an independent consultant to review all the documents," they said."The company is awaiting the planning decision notice in full and will then lodge an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate." More than 1,200 people had objected to the plant's development, which would have been used to make gas from approved, the plant would have been built on the former Kingmoor Park Rockcliffe Estate and would have contained a 23m (75ft) flue stack. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Keir Starmer hints at tax rises after next election to fund defence
The prime minister has left the door open to tax rises to pay for increased spending on defence after the next election, saying that defending Britain must come before all else. Sir Keir Starmer said it was the 'first duty of the prime minister to keep the country safe' but that Labour had committed itself during the last election to placing no new taxes on working people. But he did not rule out increases after 2029. Starmer is attending a Nato summit at the Hague, Netherlands KIN CHEUNG/PA Starmer said it was 'pretty obvious we're living in volatile times, probably more volatile than most of us have lived through recently, and we have entered a new era for defense and security'. Asked whether he would need to raise taxes to meet the Nato commitment of 5 per cent of GDP , the prime minister said his manifesto at the last election included commitments not to raise taxes on working people and that Labour would 'stick to our manifesto commitments'. However, the government had already said it would not set out how the full funding would be settled until after the next election, which would bring with it a new manifesto. Starmer said: 'Every time, we've set out our defence spending commitments. So when we went to 2.5 per cent in 2027-28, we set out precisely how we would pay for it. That didn't involve tax rises.' Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told Times Radio: 'We can all expect to be writing bigger cheques to HMRC over the next few years.' He said: 'We've been talking about things, 3.5 per cent of national income by the mid-2030s. That's an extra £30 billion or £40 billion compared with what we're spending now. Now, where that's going to come from goodness only knows. 'Well, I think we do know. It's going to come from £30 billion or £40 billion more taxes, because in the end there's nowhere else it can come from.' Starmer will on Wednesday sign Britain up to meet the 5 per cent target by 2035, alongside Nato allies, in response to what he called an 'era of radical uncertainty'. The spending will be split in two parts. There will be 3.5 per cent towards direct defence capabilities and the remaining 1.5 per cent for 'resilience and security', which can include infrastructure projects, measures to increase energy security and money committed to control migration.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Retail lobby group accused of M&S cyber cover-up
Britain's biggest retail lobby group has been accused of a cover up after publishing 'made up' Marks & Spencer sales figures following a cyber attack on the retailer. Shops were told last week that the British Retail Consortium (BRC) had been using out-of-date numbers for M&S while its systems were down, masking the true impact of the cyber attack on its sales. The admission has provoked astonishment among members. One senior retail executive said the BRC had 'effectively said to industry that the data is completely made up'. The inaccurate figures were included in the BRC-KPMG benchmark, which is seen as a crucial tool for high street stores to understand how they are performing against competitors. Analysts and the Government also monitor the index to track the wider health of the retail sector. The benchmark does not break out the individual performance of each retailer, but is compiled using sales figures submitted by shops for different categories including clothing, accessories and books. The BRC said it had used out-of-date figures for M&S because it had not received any data from the company. Rather than excluding M&S, the BRC used 'placeholder' numbers for weeks. These figures were based on figures from before the cyber attack, which forced the retailer to suspend online sales for months. The practice only came to light after the BRC sent an email to members last week telling them they should be careful in using the data. One senior retail executive said: 'It's one thing to take the number out. It's another to add one in and make it up.' Fresh setback Analysts said the distortion of the figures risked damaging trust in the benchmark. Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, said: 'BRC members that participate in the scheme will be using it to inform their tactics and strategies all the way up to board level. There will be specific categories that potentially wouldn't have given a clear picture of underlying trade.' The BRC argued that excluding M&S from the benchmark would have allowed competitors to work out crucial information about the retailer, such as market share. Separate figures suggest M&S has suffered a significant hit to sales from the cyber attack, which saw its systems frozen and customer data stolen. Kantar data found that clothing sales at M&S were down by a fifth in the four weeks to May 25 compared with the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, spending on food was nearly flat, with NIQ numbers showing spending in M&S's food halls rose by 0.8pc in the four weeks to May 17 compared with a year earlier M&S has warned that the breach will wipe £300m from its profits after the attack reduced availability of food across its stores and stopped it from being able to accept online orders. The retailer only resumed online orders earlier this month, more than six weeks after the attack began. It has come as a major setback to bosses, who had been credited with steering a turnaround of the retailer before the attack. Stuart Machin, M&S's chief executive, saw his pay package jump almost 40pc last year to £7.1m amid a rise in performance-linked bonuses. A spokesman for the BRC said: 'The BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor is a leading indicator of retail sales activity in the UK used by businesses, analysts and the Government. All retail contributors submit their data on the basis that it remains strictly confidential and secure. 'We have tried and tested processes to ensure that no commercially sensitive information, including market share, can be deduced from changes to the data - particularly where a contributor is unable to submit for a period of time, or when contributors leave or join the benchmark.' The BRC gets its funding from retailers, with members paying a fee based on their revenues. M&S is one of the largest retailers in the UK by revenues, making £13.8bn in sales in its last financial year.
