Nigel Evans, MP for the Ribble Valley, has requested an urgent meeting with officials of Santander following the announcement of the closure of their Clitheroe Branch.
The branch, located at 1 Castle Street Clitheroe, becomes the latest Ribble Valley bank to close its doors for good as customers increase their tendency to bank online. Santander announced on Wednesday that they would be closing one in five of its branches across the UK after ‘extensive consideration and a comprehensive internal review’.
Speaking about the closure, Nigel Evans said:
“Over the past few years my constituency has seen its fair share of banks close, from Barclays in Whalley to Natwest in Bamber Bridge. Whilst I fully appreciate that customers are changing the ways they bank and increasingly going online, a third of the population still do not use online banking. At this rate, we may find ourselves at the point where there are no banks left in the Ribble Valley.
“Clitheroe has a considerable population of elderly people who prefer to bank in-branch, the only way to do that would be to travel over 11 miles to either Burnley or Blackburn. I understand Santander’s reasoning behind the closures, but contingencies must be made in rural areas like the Ribble Valley to ensure customers are not completely cut off.
“I will be meeting with representatives of Santander to further discuss the closure of the branch and solutions going forward for the employees who will lose their employment.”
Santander customers are able to do their everyday banking – such as paying in cash and cheques – at Clitheroe Post Office on King Street. The branch will close on 25 April 2019.