Two Lloyds bank branches in Surrey are set to close on Monday, and the West Byfleet branch will be the town’s last. After the doors shut, West Byfleet will have no bank branches at all.
That is why residents and businesses are looking at Lloyds Bank now. The closure is happening in real time, and for people who still depend on in-person services, it changes where they can go next week, not sometime in the future. Woking MP Will Forster warned in March that the town risked becoming a banking desert and called for a review into whether a banking hub could be established.
Norah Holder, 88, said the closure was diabolical and pointed out that West Byfleet does not even have a Post Office. Her complaint lands in a town where the loss is not abstract. It means no branch, no fallback counter service and no obvious place for someone who wants to handle cash, ask a question or sort out a problem face to face.
That is the point residents keep coming back to, even as the bank continues to push customers toward digital channels. Lloyds has said people want the freedom to bank in the way that worked for them and that customers now have more choice and ways to manage money than ever before. But Ancy Fenton said banking was not just about apps for many people, while Cecilia Scott, 51, said older people really want to see somebody in person.
Scott added that West Byfleet has the transport links, supermarket, doctors, pharmacists, hairdressers and restaurants a community needs, but still needs a bank. Dennis Macco said it would be brilliant to make a banking hub work, adding that he likes to see people when he goes into a bank because it keeps the community thriving. Forster has already pressed for that kind of hub, where different banks rotate services through the week.
The closures are part of broader changes across lloyds bank’s network, and they come after years in which the UK bank and building society sector has cut back branches as more customers move to online and mobile banking. What remains unresolved in West Byfleet is whether a banking hub can be put in place before the last branch disappears for good.
