New hub brings banking back to Belper town centre

The new hub is located on King Street in Belper town centre

A new hub has brought banking back to a town in Derbyshire.

Belper was without a bank for more than a year after its branch of Lloyds closed in November 2022.

The new banking hub, located in King Street, offers a counter service, which will be operated by the Post Office.

Five banks - Barclays, Natwest, HSBC, Lloyds and Santander - will set up shop at the hub, which will be managed by Cash Access UK, on a different day of the week.

The hub has been set up in response to banks closing branches due to a rise in cashless payments and online services.

Belper Town Council mayor, councillor Jamie Walls, said it was "vital" for the area and would mean people would not have to travel to Derby or Ripley.

Belper Town Council mayor, councillor Jamie Walls, welcomed the opening of the hub

Cash Access UK said more hubs were set to open across Derbyshire this year.

A different bank will be available for customers on each weekday, with it open to Barclays customers on a Monday, NatWest on Tuesday, HSBC on Wednesday, Lloyds on Thursday and Santander on Friday.

Figures gathered by cash-machine network LINK show 1,100 branches have closed across the UK since May 2022.

The service was officially opened on Friday by Mid Derbyshire MP Pauline Latham.

'Community asset'

Elsewhere in Derbyshire, Clay Cross opened a banking hub in November, with an identical scheme for Shirebrook set to open later this year.

Mr Walls told the BBC: "There's still people that don't bank online and this hub is a good solution... it's the best of both worlds.

"It's great for the town... it's going to be good community asset and it's fantastic that it's finally here."

Cash Access UK is a not-for-profit company, owned and funded by Bank of Ireland UK, Barclays Bank UK PLC, Danske Bank, HSBC UK Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group plc, Santander UK plc, TSB Bank plc and Virgin Money.