The Bridlington branch of the NatWest bank, based on King Street in the town is set to close later this year.
A brochure in the branch is stating that the bank will close on the 11th of June 2025.
Indications are that the nearest branch for ‘in person’ banking will be in Scarborough.
A NatWest spokesperson said: “Our customers are using digital banking more than ever before – over 80% of our active current account holders now use our digital services and over 97% of retail accounts with us are now opened online.
“Like any business, we strive to meet our customers’ changing needs and expectations and we’ve been responding to the industry wide shift towards digital services by investing to broaden what customers can do themselves and to offer them greater personalisation.
“We are also significantly investing in refreshing our network – we expect to invest in excess of £20m in our network across the UK in 2025 to improve customer service, enhance the look and feel of our branches, and reduce the environmental impact of our buildings, as well as continuing to invest in shared solutions like the Post Office and Banking Hubs.
“Digital banking continues to provide new and inclusive ways of allowing the overwhelming majority of our individual and business customers, including the elderly and vulnerable, to bank with us in ways that they weren’t able to before. But we know that a small number of people are not yet comfortable with it, which is why we are proactively reaching out to support them with this transition, having made over 200,000 calls last year. We also have experts that they can speak to for support and guidance.”
Three Bridlington councillors have already voiced their concerns and are asking for a the bank to reconsider their descsion.
Cllr Tim Norman, Rick Arrand and Andy Walker have written to NatWest Local Director Pam Dearing outlining the issues concerning the Bridlington branch closure.
They have stated:
“As local representatives for Bridlington, we are very concerned for the residents of Bridlington on your decision to close the Bridlington Branch with not really any fall-back availability of Banking services.
You have stated that the decision is to be put through LINK, however, this rarely would change the decision.
Our concerns though are:
- Having already lost Barclays and Lloyds I believe that there will be a great impact on Customers;
- Bridlington is highly deprived and therefore will be highly internet vulnerable along with the age profile of the town as well and, as we all know, the older generation are less likely to be internet savvy;
- The nearest available location for NatWest is in Hornsea which is a very difficult bus ride for residents to attend. As a highly deprived town the private transport ownership in the town is very low;
- The Post Office within the town is continuously under threat of closure which makes it difficult to consider that it is going to be here in 12 months’ time.
Bridlington is a highly deprived town and needs banking services to remain in order to help it grow and escape the deprivation which it is stuck in.
We ask you to reconsider your decision as we sincerely believe that it will have a significant impact on the town and also especially on your customers and business reputation.”
