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Wigan to lose yet another bank branch
Yet another bank branch is to close in Wigan later this year.
By Charles Graham
22nd Jan 2023, 8:26am - 2 min read
Updated 23rd Jan 2023, 11:14am
But while the TSB in Pemberton's days are numbered, borough customers of two other banks – Lloyds and the Halifax – were breathing a sigh of relief today after Wigan failed to appear on their latest list of cuts.
The TSB on Ormskirk Road is one of 11 branches around the country scheduled to go in 2023 as more and more of the bank's clients prefer to conduct their transactions online.
It will close its doors for the last time on May 11, it has been announced.
The TSB bank branch in Pemberton will close in May
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This weekend Halifax and Lloyds between them revealed that a further 40 branches of theirs are shutting down over the coming months, although none is in this area. The same reasons for customers' changing habits were cited.
Last year Wigan Today revealed that there were half as many bank branches in the borough as there had been in 2015.
Analysis from consumer champion Which? was showing a sharp decline in the number of branches open in areas across much of the UK compared to seven years previously.
And according to figures up to the end of April 2021, 19 banks had winked out of existence in Wigan since the start of 2015, leaving 18 remaining in the area.
Separate figures from cash machine network LINK showed there had also been a decline in the number of free-to-use ATMs across the UK in recent years.
Their data revealed that between the start of 2018 and early March 2021, the number of ATMs in Wigan, Makerfield and Leigh dropped from 238 to 174.
The increasing use of online banking and contactless payments have led to concerns some will be left behind, or unable to access key services.
Which? chief executive, Anabel Hoult, said: "While the pandemic has accelerated the move to digital payments for many consumers, many are not yet ready to make that switch and require protection from an avalanche of ATM and bank branch closures that have left the UK's cash system at risk of collapse."
Research by the Royal Society of Arts estimates 10 million people in the UK would struggle in a cashless society.
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