New banking hub opens in town hit by closures

Hardik Pandya said the hub operates as different banks on different days

A new banking hub has opened in a Somerset town in an effort to replace the bank branches that have been closed down in recent years.

Branches of NatWest, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays have all closed in Keynsham and the town's last remaining bank, Halifax, is set to shut in May.

A temporary banking hub offering in-person services opened last Wednesday in the town's post office. The hub operates as four different banks on four different days: Tuesdays is NatWest, Wednesday is Lloyds, Thursdays is HSBC and Fridays is Barclays. Mondays will eventually become Halifax.

Hardik Pandya, banking hub operator, said: "A lot of people are taking advantage of it. We've seen an increase in footfall as well."

Members of the public and local business owners told BBC Radio Bristol the move had "got to be positive".

Iain Aitchison, who owns Longwell Records, said: "When you go on a local Facebook community page what you hear a lot about is the lack of banking facilities.

"It's something I know will be a benefit to Keynsham and the surrounding areas hopefully."

Local business owner Iain Aitchison says the move has "got to be positive"

Local resident Nick Norris said: "It's better than having nothing at all but it would be preferable to have banks here.

"But that's never going to happen with the current way banks work. It's better than nothing but it's not perfect."

He added: "I do everything online. My mum's 90, she hasn't got a clue on things like that.

"I've got to do everything for her. I imagine most older people in the area are split into two halves."

Another resident, Patricia Mullen, said she felt "more secure" inside the bank hub because she had previously been hacked.

Helen Godfrey, owner of Conscious Foods and Lifestyle, also said she had concerns over security outside of a branch.

"I'm concerned about doing banking from people who are working from home, because I don't know whether these people are being supervised.

"I don't know who's going to be in the room when I have to give my security details so face-to-face banking is reassuring to most people.

"Certainly, older generations are the ones who are missing the banks."

The banking hub is temporary until a permanent home for it is found.