Thatcham Barclays to close later this year

Barclays says closure follows fall in number of counter transactions

THATCHAM is set to lose another bank after its Barclays branch was earmarked for closure.

The branch will be closing its doors for the last time on June 12.

Barclays said the Thatcham branch would be closing as the number of transactions had declined and that 86 per cent of its branch customers used other methods of banking.

The company said that customers using other ways to do their banking had increased by 20 per cent since 2012.

Furthermore, 57 per cent of Thatcham’s customers had been using neighbouring branches, with 112 using Thatcham exclusively for their banking.

The nearest local Barclays branches are Newbury (3.3 miles away), Tadley (seven miles) or Reading (14.2 miles).

The loss of Barclays follows NatWest closing in 2018 and HSBC in 2016.

An application to convert the former NatWest building into two shops was approved by West Berkshire Council this week.

HSBC has been split into a Ladbrokes and Central Heating Advice Service Ltd.

Barclays said that there had been 37,493 counter transactions at Thatcham between October 2016 and September 2017. This fell to 30,049 between October 2018 and September 2019.

During this period, weekly personal banking counter transactions fell by 17 per cent (549 to 458), cash withdrawals reduced by 12 per cent (180 to 159), cash deposits reduced by 16 per cent (210 to 177) and the number of cheque deposits decreased by 23 per cent (159 to 122).

For business banking, counter transactions fell by 31 per cent (172 to 119), cash withdrawals fell by 35 per cent (17 to 11), cash deposits reduced by 19 per cent (69 to 56), with cheque deposits decreasing by 40 per cent (86 to 52).

Thatcham Chamber of Commerce chairman Jeremy Cottam said he had recently spoken to a resident who had switched to Barclays as their local bank had closed.

He said: “Fewer important services [like banking] to attract people into the town centre will have a negative effect on footfall to the remaining shops.

“Also, those who still take cash will have another problem to deal with in how they’ll cope with the cash transactions their customers still prefer. So less choice for the older generation.”