Tim Farron calls closure of Halifax and Lloyds 'unsurprising'

The Lloyds Bank on Finkle Street and Halifax on Highgate will close on February 10 2025. 

A spokesperson from Lloyds Banking Group said: "As many customers now choose to bank through their mobile app or online, visits to our Lloyds Bank and Halifax Kendal branches have fallen over recent years.

"The local Post Office offers everyday banking, with cash also available at close by free-to-use ATMs. Customers can also manage their money online, through our mobile banking app, by calling us or speaking with a community banker.”

"I guess over the last 15 years one by one they are leaving their place on the high street," said Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron.

He also lamented the loss of the Barclays in Kirkby Stephen, which went earlier this year. 

He said the Post Offices are then left to pick up the slack. 

"High street banks now choosing to abandon the high street," he said. 

Mr Farron said the issue of high street banks leaving rural places in the constituency had now finally come to Westmorland's biggest town. 

"People who of any age want to go into a bank and have direct banking support," he said. 

Lloyds Banking Group claims that more than 77 per cent of its personal customers from each branch already use other ways of banking such as mobile, internet or phone banking, as well as other branches. 

Mobile banking gives people 24/7/365 access and the power to view, understand and manage their money in one simple place, it is said. 

The nearest Post Office is at 75 Stricklandgate, which offers personal and business customers everyday banking services, access to cash, paying in of cheques and more. 

The group says that after the branch closes a community banker will visit the area 'who will continue to offer face-to-face targeted support for as long as the community needs it.'

The group will discuss with local communities which locations would be appropriate for the banker to set up in, and on which days.