High street branch will shut its doors permanently in June
Barclays Bank Acton. Picture: Google Streetview
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Barclays on Acton High Street will be closing its doors for good in June, meaning the nearest branch will be in Ealing town centre.
The company has closed, or has planned to shut, 540 branches since 2015, West Ealing lost its branch in Autumn 2020.
At the end of last year a list of another 63 due to close in the first quarter of this year was released, but Acton wasn't part of that initial tranche. At the time
Barclays said, “With more customers choosing to bank in different ways, we are carefully reducing the number of under-used branches we have.”
The company says it is continuing to see a huge decrease in counter transactions- even prior to the Pandemic - and claim there are only 21 customers that use the Acton branch ''exclusively and regularly''.
It is the latest in the string of bank closures on Acton High Street which will leave the town centre without any face-to-face banking provision. TSB announced it was pulling out last year with Santander moving out in 2019 and Nat West in 2018 with the exodus started by HSBC who abandoned the area in 2016.
A Barclays spokesperson told ActonW3.com, “The decision to close a branch is never an easy one. However, customers are increasingly using alternatives to branches to do their banking. As a result, we are seeing a sustained fall in branch visits across the UK.
“This is reflected at the Acton branch where there has been an 18 per cent reduction in counter transactions in the two years to March 2020. In addition, more than nine out of ten (91 per cent) of our customers at the branch are also using different ways to bank.
“We will work with our customers and provide alternative options to ensure they can continue to manage their money and receive financial expertise when required.
''We will be offering virtual ‘tea and teach’ sessions for customers wishing to explore digital banking and other alternatives to branch based banking.''
It's not expected any workers will be made redundant - Barclays say staff will be offered alternative roles in the bank.
Annemarie Flanagan
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March 11, 2021
