New in-person banking hub to be opened in town

Chair of Droitwich Spa Place Board Matt Nicol has been calling for a banking hub in the town for several years

A new banking hub is set to be set up in a town that is losing its last remaining bank branch.

The UK's main cash machine network, Link, said on Wednesday that a hub would be brought to Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, following the announcement that Santander - the last bank with a high street presence in the town - would be closing 95 branches across the country.

Banking hubs are shared spaces available to customers of any bank.

Head of banking at Link, Donna Calero, said: "We recognise that there is still a need for cash in Droitwich so that banking hub will be delivered within the next 12 months."

Banking hubs are often set up in areas that are facing the loss of core cash services, like banks or cash machines, following an assessment by Link.

They are operated by the Post Office and funded by the UK's biggest banks, including Santander.

Banking hubs are shared spaces allowing customers of any banks to access their cash

As chair of Droitwich Spa Place Board, Matt Nicol has been calling for a banking hub in the town for several years.

He said Droitwich Spa was home to large numbers of elderly people who relied on in-person banking.

"Droitwich went from having a number of banks to having one in a very short space of time," Mr Nicol explained. "And what they didn't allow for is preparing the local community for what digital banking looks like. There's a generation that hasn't had that opportunity."

He said businesses had also struggled.

"Businesses were closing for a couple of hours to go and do their money drop-off, having to drive to another city – Worcester – to make their payments, and it took two hours of their day.

"So the banking hub's going to solve a lot of problems for a lot of people."

'Overwhelming response'

Ms Calero said the new banking hub would host community bankers - representatives from the country's biggest banks who each visit one day a week to see customers in person.

Mr Nicol said the response from people in Droitwich Spa to news of the hub had been "overwhelming".

"If you need to do something face-to-face, if you've got a problem with a PIN code or something like that, you can go and see someone instead of having to sit on a phone to someone for 20, 25 minutes," he said.

"I don't think you'll see… towns having numerous banks any more. I think it's going to end up looking more like banking hubs going forward."