Sep 22, 2023

More banks in Gosforth, Gateshead and County Durham to close their doors next year after 23 to shut in North East in 2023 Closure of Seaham Lloyds branch will leave County Durham town with no banks to serve its 21,500 population from summer 2024 Get the latest news from Newcastle straight to your inbox Invalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! Invalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up × The shutters will be coming down on four more North East banks next year, adding to the 23 branches which will have closed in the region by the end of 2023. The Halifax branch in Gosforth will go on January 8, followed by Lloyds bank on Team Valley, Gateshead , the following day. The Lloyds branch in Seaham will shut for good on June 19 2024, leaving the County Durham town with no banks at all to serve its 21,500 population from next summer. The previously announced closure of the Halifax branch in The previously announced closure of the Halifax branch in Newton Aycliffe has been put back and will also come next year on March 27. has been put back and will also come next year on March 27. In total, Bank of Scotland , Halifax, Lloyds and Natwest are all shutting 36 more locations across the UK in the announcement made this week, with the Team Valley Lloyds and Gosforth Halifax being among the first to close their doors. Bank closures have become common over the last few years as more people choose to do their banking online rather than in a branch. Research by Which? last year suggested banks and building societies have closed, or have scheduled to close, a total of 5,579 branches since January 2015. This works out at around 54 branches each month. The banking industry has said that fewer people are using their branches and the pandemic accelerated changes, with many customers learning for the first time how to bank from home. However, critics say vulnerable people who are less confident on the internet will be left without access to services. Whitley Bay , in North Tyneside , will have lost four banks this year, with the closure of the town's Barclays on December 1 following Natwest, Halifax and HSBC earlier in the summer. Whitley Bay councillor John O'Shea dubbed the planned closure as "frightening" and fears the vacant unit could sully the area. "It's a bit frightening for local residents. This is a negative situation," he said. And rural Northumberland communities were devastated earlier this year when it was announced that Barclays was closing the last bank in Seahouses - along with another nearby branch in Alnwick , leaving residents and businesses having to travel to Berwick - a distance of more than 22 miles. There are plans for dozens more Banking Hubs across the UK, although none yet for the North East. Hubs operate in a similar way to bank branches, but their facilities are shared, with banks providing staff on rotation so that trained specialists from different banks are available on different days. MP Sharon Hodgson spoke of her concern when Barclays announced it was closing Washington's branch in July, saying many constituents relied on the branch and were worried how they would manage to do their banking. Ms Hodgson, MP for Washington and Sunderland West, said "While digital poverty remains an issue for a lot of people, I am concerned that Barclays' customers in my constituency will lack the appropriate support for those who do not have access to digital banking, and for our residents who require face-to-face support for more complex issues that require an appointment." A full list of North East closures so far is below, with the new announcements in bold: Lloyds 14 Sea Road, Fulwell, Sunderland, SR6 9BT - July 20, 2023 Station Road, Newburn, NE15 8LS - September 14, 2023 11-12 The Shopping Village, Kingsway, Team Valley, NE11 0EN - January 9, 2024 1 Marlborough, Seaham SR7 7SD - June 19, 2024 Halifax 22/24 Park View, Whitley Bay,NE26 2TH – June 21, 2023 58 Beveridge Way, Newton Aycliffe, DL5 4DS - March 27, 2024 180 High St, Gosforth, NE3 1HX January 8, 2024 NatWest HSBC 21 Fowler Street, South Shields, NE33 1NW - June 13, 2023 189 High Street, Gosforth, NE3 1HE - July 18, 2023 Barclays 12 Station Street, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, TS12 1AB - June 30, 2023 20 Bondgate Within, Alnwick, NE66 1TF - July 7, 2023 1 Seafield Road, Seahouses, NE68 7SJ - July 14, 2023 Unit H, The Galleries, Washington, NE38 7SH - July 21, 2023 74 Front Street, Prudhoe, NE42 5PU - August 8, 2023 Westgate, Haltwhistle, NE49 9AG - August 18 2023 56 Station Road, Redcar, TS10 1DX - November 11 2023 7 Market Place, Middleton in Teesdale, DL12 0QF - November 17 2023 86 Park View, Whitley Bay NE26 3RA - December 1 2023 6 Market Place, Durham, DH1 3RD - December 8 2023 Virgin Money 5 Cattle Market, Hexham, NE46 1NJ - November 7, 2023 Unit 1A, The Gosforth Centre, Gosforth, NE3 1JZ - November 8, 2023 What can you do if you want to access a bank branch? If your branch is shutting, you may want to consider switching to a bank that still has a local branch nearby – and you might even be able to pocket some cash to do so . Bear in mind there's no guarantee that too won't close. Your only other option is to either travel further afield to your new 'local' branch. While switching can be seen as daunting, the Current Account Switching Service , introduced in 2013, takes away a lot of the pain. All your money, standing orders and direct debits will be transferred to your new bank, and future payments in will also be moved over. Here’s how the switching service works: Once you’ve chosen a new account, the new bank or building society will ask you to fill in two forms: a current account switch agreement and an instruction to close your old account. This has to be at least seven working days after your new account is opened. All your incoming and outgoing payments will be moved to your new account. You can carry on using your old account up until the day of the switch. Your old account will then be closed. For 36 months any payments into or out of your old account will be automatically redirected to your new account. However, recurring debit card payments are not part of the guarantee. A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson previously said: “Our customers are increasingly using digital channels to manage their money – we now have over 20 million regular digital users so it’s important we continue to develop the online services our customers want to use. Our branches will continue to be an option for our customers, alongside our telephone services, mobile app and online bank.” Join our WhatsApp communities ChronicleLive is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our communities. We have a number of communities to join, so you can choose which one you want to be part of and we'll send you the latest news direct to your phone. You could even join them all! 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