Return of high-street banks

Customers young and old benefit from in-person help

- Kalyeena Makortoff

On a crisp Friday morning in early December, Abington Street in Northampton is starting to stir.

Despite having lost high street stalwarts such as Marks & Spencer, Moss Bros and H&M in recent years, it is drawing in locals for one end-of-week errand: banking.

Along the pedestrianised road, customers are streaming in and out of HSBC, Barclays, Metro Bank and Nationwide. But it is a rare scene that defies a wider trend: more than 6,000 bank branches in the UK have closed since 2015 as bosses try to cut costs and push millions of customers towards online services.

Relief for customers may be at hand, with banks pausing closures and opening new sites in what appears to be a mini renaissance for bricks-and-mortar branches.

HSBC UK pledged to keep all of its remaining 327 branches open until at least 2027, while Barclays - which has been one of the most aggressive in shutting sites - has extended opening hours at 87 of its 200 or so branches.

Challenger banks are bucking the closure trend too. Among smaller lenders, Metro Bank has launched three new locations, in Gateshead, Chester and Salford, while Newcastle Building Society poured millions of pounds into a Grade II-listed building to open a new branch in Newcastle city centre.

“It’s interesting how the commercial decisions are starting to change,” Nikhil Rathi, the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority told MPs this month. “You're starting to see more of the major financial institutions actually seek to make a virtue of the fact that they’re going to keep branches open for a certain period - and that is a shift.”

Nationwide has made one of the biggest commitments, promising to keep its 696 branches open until at least 2030. That news was a relief for Sudha and Jatish Shah, a couple in their 70s, who were worried their local Virgin Money branch in Northampton would be under threat after Nationwide’s £2.9bn takeover of its rival in 2024.