Santander has announced plans to close 44 bank branches, placing almost 300 jobs at risk. The lender said its move was a continuing response to the changing needs of its customers as more people bank online.
News of the fresh closures come less than a year after it revealed plans to shut 95 sites. Santander UK said its latest decision would leave it with just 244 full service branches. Money latest: Check how much your water bill is due to rise.
The company revealed a list of the locations affected and the dates when closures are due to take place:
Andover, Hampshire, 12 May
Banbridge, County Down, 19 May
Bangor, County Down, 29 April
Berwick Upon Tweed, Northumberland, 28 April
Bishop Auckland, County Durham, 5 May
Boston, Lincolnshire, 28 April
Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, 12 May
Bridgwater, Somerset, 29 April
Cwmbran, Gwent, 13 May
Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, 12 May
Evesham, Worcestershire, 28 April
Glengormley, County Antrim, 6 May
Golders Green, London, 13 May
Gosport, Hampshire, 5 May
Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, 5 May
Heswall, Merseyside, 13 May
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, 5 May
Kirkintilloch, Lanarkshire, 29 April
Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, by the end of January 2027
Leyland, Lancashire, 6 May
Liskeard, Cornwall, 20 May
Macclesfield, Cheshire, 12 May
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, 6 May
Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, 29 April
Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan, 6 May
Mold, Clwyd, 28 April
Newbury, Berkshire, 29 April
Newton Abbot, Devon, 19 May
Northallerton, North Yorkshire, 6 May
Ormskirk, Lancashire, by the end of January 2027
Pontefract, West Yorkshire, 5 May
Ramsgate, Kent, 28 April
Redditch, Worcestershire, 13 May
Ringwood, Hampshire, 6 May
Scunthorpe, South Humberside, 29 April
Shirley, West Midlands, 20 May
Stafford, Staffordshire, 19 May
Stranraer, Wigtownshire, 13 May
Stratford Upon Avon, Warwickshire, 12 May
Tonbridge, Kent, 29 April
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, 5 May
Whitehaven, Cumbria, by the end of January 2027
Wilmslow, Cheshire, by the end of January 2027
Woking, Surrey, 28 April
The Spain-based bank group said 96% of all transactions were now being completed on digital channels. It moved to reassure critics of wider industry branch closures around access to banking, insisting its community bankers programme would help in the areas where full branches were shutting.
Its surviving network will also consist of 19 counter-free branches, 36 reduced-hour branches, six work cafes, and 111 Santander Locals. The industry’s shift away from costly branch services has seen two-thirds of the UK’s network disappear over the past 10 years, but branch services have been reduced at pace since the fallout from the financial crisis in 2008/9. A Santander spokeswoman said: «We will continue to invest in both our branch network – comprising of full-service branches, counter-free branches, reduced-hour branches, Santander Locals, and our increasingly popular work cafes – as well as our digital banking services, so we can be there to support our customers however they choose to bank with us.»
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