Plans to roll out ten extra bank hubs in the northeast and Cumbria have been unveiled, in an attempt to support customers and companies behind by widespread branch closures.
The proposed locations are Barnard Castle in County Durham, Cockermouth in Cumbria and Whitley Bay in North Tyneside.
Leading by the post office and supported by large banks, every hub offers essential services such as cash admissions, invoice payments and deposits, in addition to planned days that representatives of the High Street Bank are on site to process more complex transactions.
Retired engineering director Phil Dunn, who regularly uses the Bankhub in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, said it focuses on “most” of his financial needs. “You can’t do everything in the Bankhub, but you can do most things,” he noticed. “If we have to do something bigger, we go to the main branch in Darlington, but in general we can do nine out of ten times that we do it here.”
Research by Consumer Group Which? Indicates that 212 bank branches have been closed in the northeast since 2015. Link, the national authority responsible for identifying hublation, reports that five million people in the UK still depend on cash “day in, day out” Domestic budgets management. Factors such as local deprivation levels and an older demographic are important considerations when deciding where you can establish new hubs.
In addition to the Newton Aycliffe site, Hubs in MaryPort and Ulverston (Cumbria) and a temporary site in Ferryhill (County Durham) are already open. Another ten are planned, including Hubs in Alnwick and Amble (Northumberland), and Crook and Stanley (County Durham).
Director Banking Hub, Paul Culverwell, said that, although online services have grown, face-to-face advice is still vital: “Many people appreciate it very much a person for them to talk about worries such as mortgages and complex financial to ask. “