WOKINGHAM businesses and the Borough Council have backed the setting up of a Bank HUB in the town.
It comes amid warnings communities across England could see the end of High Street banking within 10 years.
A rise in online customers and increasing property and staffing costs mean many major banks are pulling out of towns and cities.
Bank HUBS, where a number of banks share one building, have been successfully trialled in Glasgow and Essex.They provide full banking services including cash and counter transactions.
Following news Barclays in Wokingham town is to close, the Borough Council has thrown its weight behind a local hub adding it plans to contact the major banks to encourage them to look at this as a solution to the increasing closures in the town.
Cllr Clive Jones, former leader of Wokingham Borough Council, said before he stepped down to focus on his general election campaign: “Wokingham Borough Council is heavily invested in the success of Wokingham town centre. The town centre has grown and grown at a time when town centres across the country are losing footfall and businesses are closing their doors.
“The council is committed to helping Wokingham town centre businesses and will soon have a dedicated town centre officer to provide business support to town centre businesses.
“We are supportive of any ideas that can help our local shops, including having a bank hub in the town centre. While setting up a bank hub is not something the council can do, we will be contacting the major banks and asking them to consider this.”
Businesses in Wokingham say they would welcome a hub as it would make cash transactions easier and encourage shoppers, especially the elderly, to come into the town rather do their shopping in Reading where there are more banks.
However, LINK, the UK’s Cash Access and ATM network, which operates hubs, said it can only start the process once all banks in a town have closed.
This is getting closer as only Lloyd’s and HSBC are the only banks, while Nationwide and Newbury building societies have branches in Wokingham’s Broad Street. Two years ago, HSBC closed its counter service, leaving Lloyd’s as the only traditional bank.
Phil Edgecombe who runs Phil’s Good Food store on Broad Street said: “There’s no doubt Wokingham needs traditional banking services. Elderly customers prefer speaking to someone over the counter and withdrawing money for their shopping.
“I think it would be better if LINK considered a hub before the last bank closed. I’d welcome them to start the process now.”
Carol Williams landlady at the Queen’s Head pub said cash transactions remain popular with customers: “We still take cash and need change so a bank is the best place for us.
“I’d hate to see Wokingham lose all its branches. We need banks in some form or other and the hub seems the way forward.”
A spokesperson at the Headmasters salon in Denmark Street added: “We have to use the Post Office more but we’d much prefer a bank.”
LINK has opened a number of hubs around the country as the major banks pulled out. A spokesperson said High Street services could probably cease in most places within 10 years.
“As long as there is one bank left, we cannot do anything. When the last one goes, we can move in to assess the situation.
“If there is a Post Office still operating, then we have to be careful as we don’t want to put the other services it provides at risk. We estimate around five million people still rely on cash and counter services.
“It seems certain that Bank HUBS will become much more common around the country in years to come.”
