Lloyds was the last bank in Bromyard, before it closed its doors eight months ago
By Ben Godfrey
Correspondent, BBC Midlands Today
Traders in a market town in Herefordshire have described being left short of cash and forced to travel miles with their takings, months after the last bank branch closed.
Lloyds Bank in Bromyard’s Broad Street shut its doors eight months ago.
The building, dating back to the late 19th Century, sits imposingly on the high street and has been on sale for a handful of change shy of £250,000.
Change – it’s the thing you can’t get enough of here.
A number of shop owners have told the BBC they feel they are putting their own security at risk, by having to travel in order to bank their takings.
Lloyds said more customers were choosing to bank online and it had seen reduced footfall in its Bromyard branch.
But some older customers are still generally averse to going cashless, businesses say.
Image source, Hannah Symonds
Cafe owner Hannah Symonds says she has resorted to asking the window cleaner for change
“They’re using cash even more than before the pandemic,” said Hannah Symonds, owner of Brew cafe. She said at times she had been forced to dip into the tips jar for change – and had even asked the window cleaner.
“I actually do think we need a bank in Bromyard but it’s never going to happen again,” she said.
“We can go and get some change from the local Post Office, but it can go very quickly, so keeping on top of that is really difficult.”
The mood among retailers has turned to frustration, according to Sue Meredith, who owns clothes shop Suz.
“There is a cashpoint at the Co-op but on the last bank holiday it was out of order all weekend,” she said.
“There was nowhere here to get money. We’ve got elderly customers who do pay cash still and want to actually go to a branch and speak to a person. It’s had a huge impact on the town.”
Hundreds of bank branches have closed across the West Midlands since 2015
Some businesses, however, are reporting an increase in sales as more customers have to use card payments.
“We do rounds and deliveries and the majority of the people out there working in small businesses, they are younger,” said Darren Rogers, who owns Loafers patisserie.
“When people draw out five or 10 pounds cash, they tend to shop to that amount, but when they have to use a card, people tend to spend more so that’s been good for us.”
A recent report by Which? suggests 408 bank branches are closing or have closed in the West Midlands since 2015, leaving 384 open. Across the UK, they’ve been shutting at a rate of 54 a month.
Further closures are planned over the next year in Pershore, Leominster and Malvern by the likes of Halifax, Lloyds and Barclays.
They all point to reduced visits and increased use of online and mobile banking, but some have joined forces with cash machine operator Link to open community banking hubs where customers can make deposits, discuss savings and get advice on online banking fraud.
No hub has opened in the Bromyard area, but there could be one in Pershore by next spring.
Eileen Simms said there was no post office, pub or shop in Eaton Bishop
In Herefordshire, we went to see a mobile Post Office in operation, giving villagers access to face-to-face banking services.
In Eaton Bishop, about 20 people queued outside the village hall, clutching parcels and bags of coins, including Eileen Sims, who was depositing takings from the village hall.
“We’ve got no pub now, no shop, so the van is so important,” she said.
“We’re isolated, we’re at least seven miles away from town.”
The mobile Post Office manager, Sarah Handford, said she had seen demand rise.
“Here, they can ask for any notes of any denomination, whereas if you go to a cashpoint you may only get a bundle of £20s,” she said.
The pressure to switch to digital banking – and it has felt like a relentless pressure for some – has seen one local charity divert some services to better support Bromyard’s older population.
Lynne Jackson, who is visually impaired, says she is wary of using digital banking
The Hope Centre runs popular digital inclusion sessions alongside a community cafe. Organisations like Age UK, Citizens Advice and Women’s Aid are also working here to reduce community isolation.
Lynne Jackson, who is visually impaired, said the support had been invaluable as her nearest bank branch was now 14 miles away in Hereford.
She would like closures to be reversed to better support people with disabilities.
“I have to get a bus, but they’ve stopped a lot of the buses,” she explained, adding she was too scared to use digital banking.
Sarah Eardley, Chief Executive of the Hope Centre, said public transport was a common problem in rural locations.
“There was a big backlash when we knew that the last bank would go and we’ve seen lots of people volunteering in Bromyard, doing banking for people who can’t,” she said.
“We are an ageing population in Herefordshire, and the risk for them is they get even more isolated if services are withdrawn.”
Sarah Handford said she had seen an increase in demand for a mobile Post Office
Bromyard town centre is in the top 25% most deprived areas in England and here you get a real sense that a digital banking takeover is far less advanced than the banks might believe.
Politicians are taking note, including Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire, who has described the planned closure of a Lloyds branch in Pershore as “appalling”.
The international banking giants are facing a backlash in small rural towns around the Midlands where generations have relied on face-to-face service and will not, or cannot, move to digital.
So, for some, this is personal – there’s a bitter taste of betrayal. One customer described her local branch closure as being like a lifelong friend deserting them.
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