Hundreds of towns have become banking deserts as 388 branches closed in two years, research has revealed.
Places without local bank services include Westhoughton in Bolton, Chapeltown in Sheffield and Todmorden, West Yorks. The Labour analysis found 55 towns were left “bankless” despite being promised a hub six months ago.
The party says its plan to give regulators more powers could see at least 350 banking hubs quickly established. Some 6,000 high street bank sites have shut since 2015 as customers go online but those who rely on cash, and many small firms, struggle to access services.
Hubs in areas where the last branch has shut allow customers of any bank to deposit and withdraw cash and cheques plus raise queries about accounts – 42 have been set up.
Shadow city minister Tulip Siddiq said if in power she would tackle “ghost high streets” and give every community access to bank services.
She added: “The Government’s failure to roll out banking hubs has left Britain’s high streets in decline and cut off hundreds of thousands of people and small businesses from the services they need.
“Labour’s plan will bring banking services back to communities.”
Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said: “The days of every bank having its own High Street presence are over, but shared banking hubs can be an adequate replacement – provided they are rolled out with sufficient speed.
“With so many older people not banking online and reliant on visiting a face to face setting for at least some kinds of transaction, we think there should be many more shared hubs, and that they should be up and running before the last bank in an area is permitted to close, at which point a lot of older customers are often left high and dry.”
“By allowing the banks’ headlong rush to close so many of their branches, whether there are decent alternatives available for customers or not, Ministers are opening themselves up to criticism for apparently privileging the interests of big business over those of us of all ages who are not online, and many High Street businesses and small traders too.”
Hub operators Cash Access UK said it plans to have 100 open this year.
Cat Farrow, Chief Operating Officer, said: “Banking Hubs are making a real difference to people who rely on cash and face-to-face banking services and to communities more widely. The UK is one of very few countries in the world where new services like Banking Hubs are being opened to support these customers.
“From the day a Banking Hub is recommended in a town, it takes 12 months on average to find a property and open the doors. We look for properties in the heart of communities that are accessible to everyone.
“Over the past few weeks we’re pleased to have opened new Hubs in Downham Market, Looe, Royal Wootton Bassett and Shoreham by Sea, and plan to have 100 Banking Hubs open by the end of the year.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “We know cash remains king for many, which is why we have protected access to cash in law – legislating to protect access to cash withdrawal and deposit facilities for people and businesses.
“This will support businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they have reasonable access to facilities to deposit their cash.”
Here is the list of the latest banking deserts:
Abbey Road, Ealing
Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross
Aberfoyle, Stirling
Abergele, Wales
Abertillery, Wales
Acomb, York
Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge
Alderley Edge, Cheshire
Aldersgate Street, City of London
Alnwick, Northumberland
Ampthill, Buckinghamshire
Ascot, Berkshire
Auchterarder, Scotland
Aviemore, Highland
Avonmouth, Bristol
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
Bacup, Lancashire
Bakewell, Derbyshire
Ballater, Aberdeenshire
Ballynahinch, Newry
Bargoed, Caerphilly
Barnard Castle, County Durham
Bath Road, Cheltenham
Batley, West Yorkshire
Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire
Beckton, Newham
Bedale, Hambleton
Bentham, Craven
Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne
Biggin Hill, Bromley
Bilborough, Nottingham
Bilbrook, South Staffordshire
Birkenhead – Moreton, Merseyside
Bishop Auckland, County Durham
Bishop’s Waltham, Winchester
Blackheath, Lewisham
Bodmin, Cornwall
Borrowash, Erewash
Boundary Road, Norwich
Brackley, South Northamptonshire
Braemar, Aberdeenshire
Bramford Road, Ipswich
Bramhall, Lancashire
Bretton Centre, Peterborough
Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire
Bristol Road, Gloucester
Broadwater, Worthing
Bromyard, Herefordshire
Broxburn, West Lothian
Builth Wells, Powys
Burnham-on-Crouch, Maldon
Burntisland, Fife
Cadishead, Salford
Caldicot, Monmouthshire
Callington, Cornwall
Calne, Wiltshire
Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston
Carlton, Gedling
Carnforth, Lancaster
Catterick Garrison, Richmondshire
Central Circus, Barnet
Chadwell Heath, Redbridge
Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire
Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh
Chapeltown, Sheffield
Cheadle, Stockport
Cheddar, Sedgemoor
Cheshunt, Broxbourne
Chesterton Road, Cambridge
Chigwell, Redbridge
Chingford, London
Chipping Camden, Cotswold
Chipping Norton, West Oxfordshire
Chislehurst, Bromley
Cinderford, Forest of Dean
City Office Park, Lincoln
Civic Realm Leisure Centre, Glasgow City
Clarkston, East Renfrewshire
Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire
Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire
Clepington Road, Dundee
Clogher, Mid Ulster
Cobham, Elmbridge
Cockermouth, Allerdale
College Place, Southampton
Comber, Ards and North Down
Comber, Northern Ireland
Corringham, Thurrock
Coulsdon, Croydon
Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan
Cradley Heath, Sandwell
Crediton, Mid Devon
Crieff, Scotland
Crumlin, Antrim and Newtownabbey
Cuffley, Welwyn Hatfield
Cults, Aberdeen City
Cumnock, Scotland
Darlaston, Walsall
Dartmouth, Devon
Darwen, Lancashire
Dawlish, Devon
Denbigh, Denbighshire
Denton, Tameside
Dinnington, South Yorkshire
Downend, South Gloucestershire
Downham Market, Norfolk
Drayton, Norfolk
Dunbar, East Lothian
Dunblane, Stirling
Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross
Dunmurry, Belfast
Duns, Scottish Borders
Dyce, Aberdeen City
Earl’s Court Road, Kensington and Chelsea
Earlestown, Merseyside
East Dulwich, Southwark
East Horsley, Guildford
Eckington, North East Derbyshire
Edgbaston Park Road, Edgbaston
Elland, West Yorkshire
Ellon, Aberdeenshire
Emersons Green Retail Park, Bristol
Enfield North, Greater London
Epworth, North Lincolnshire
Esher, Elmbridge
Euston Road, Camden
Eyemouth, Scottish Borders
Falkland, Fife
Ferryhill, County Durham
Filey, North Yorkshire
Filton, South Gloucestershire
Finchley Road, Camden
Fivemiletown, Mid Ulster
Fleet Street, City of London
Flitwick, Central Bedfordshire
Forest Gate, Newham
Forge Corner, Blaby
Fort Augustus, Highland
Framlingham, East Suffolk
Fulwell, Sunderland
Garforth, Leeds
Gatwick Road, Crawley
Gerrards Cross, Hertfordshire
Girvan, Scotland
Glasgow, Glasgow City
Gogarburn, City of Edinburgh
Govan, Glasgow City
Grafton Gate East, Milton Keynes
Great Harwood, Lancashire
Great North Road, Doncaster
Greenwich Church Street, Greenwich
Guiseley, Leeds
Hadleigh, Castle Point
Halliwell Road, Bolton
Haltwhistle, Northumberland
Harleston, Norfolk
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Haverhill, Suffolk
Haxby, York
Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
Headingley, Leeds
Headington, Oxford
Heald Green, Stockport
Heartsease, Norwich
Heathfield, Wealden
Hemsworth, Wakefield
Heslington, York
Hessle, East Yorkshire
Heywood, Lancashire
High Holborn, Camden
Hills Road, Cambridge
Hinckley Road, Leicester
Histon, South Cambridgeshire
Holloway Road, Islington
Holmes Chapel, Cheshire
Holmfirth, Kirklees
Holsworthy, Torridge
Holt, Norfolk
Holywood, Ards and North Down
Horfield, Bristol
Hoveton, Norfolk
Hoyland Nether, Barnsley
Hull, Kingston Upon Hull
Hunt’s Cross, Liverpool
Hyson Green, Nottingham
Hythe, New Forest
Ilminster, South Somerset
Immingham, North East Lincolnshire
Innerleithen, Scottish Borders
Intake, Sheffield
Isleworth, Hounslow
Jedburgh, Scotland
Keswick, Allerdale
Keynsham, Somerset
Kidlington, Cherwell
Kidsgrove, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Kilcreggan, Argyll and Bute
Kilwinning, Scotland
Kings Square, Belfast
Kingsland Centre, Thatcham
Kingstanding Road, Birmingham
Kingsway, Gateshead
Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
Kirkby Stephen, Eden
Knowle, Solihull
Ladbroke Grove, Kensington and Chelsea
Langley, Slough
Larkfield, Kent
Leeds Road, Bradford
Leiston, East Suffolk
Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire
Leyburn, Richmondshire
Lincoln Road, Peterborough
Liphook, East Hampshire
Lisnaskea, Fermanagh and Omagh
Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire
Llangollen, Denbighshire
Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan
Lochmaddy, Isle Of North Uist
Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway
London Road, Warrington
Longbridge Town Centre, Birmingham
Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon
Lyndhurst, New Forest
Lytham St Annes, Fylde
Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire
Maghera, Mid Ulster
Malpas, Cheshire West and Chester
Malvern Link, Malvern Hills
Manningtree, Tendring
Market Bosworth, Hinckley and Bosworth
Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
Market Weighton, East Yorkshire
Marylebone High Street, Westminster
Media City UK, Salford
Middleton in Teesdale, County Durham
Mildenhall, Suffolk
Mildenhall, West Suffolk
Mill Hill, Barnet
Millport, North Ayrshire
Mirfield, Kirklees
Morriston, Swansea
Mount Pleasant Road, Shropshire
Mountain Ash, Wales
Mumbles, Swansea
Nailsea, North Somerset
New Line, Bradford
New Mills, High Peak
New Ollerton, Newark and Sherwood
New Romney, Folkestone and Hythe
New Rossington, South Yorkshire
Newburn, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle, Northern Ireland
Newcastleton, Scottish Borders
Newton Road, Torbay
Norbury, Lambeth
Normanton, Wakefield
Old Fletton, Peterborough
Ormeau Road, Belfast
Ossett, West Yorkshire
Otley, West Yorkshire
Oundle, East Northamptonshire
Oxted, Tandridge
Parkhouse Industrial Estate, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Pemberton, Wigan, Wigan
Penge, Bromley
Pershore, Worcestershire
Pickering, Ryedale
Pollokshields, Glasgow City
Port Glasgow, Inverclyde
Port Sunlight, Wirral
Portadown, Armagh City
Portrush, Northern Ireland
Poulton-Le-Fylde, Wyre
Prenton, Wirral
Prescot, Merseyside
Prestwich, Bury
Queen Elizabeth II Square, Chelmsford
Queensferry Road, Edinburgh
Radlett, Hertsmere
Ramsbottom, Lancashire
Renfrew, Renfrewshire
Rhyd-Y-Penau, Cardiff
Richmond, North Yorkshire
Risca, Wales
Rothbury, Northumberland
Rothwell, Leeds
Royston, Hertfordshire
Rubery, Bromsgrove
Saintfield, Newry
Saltash, Cornwall
Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland
Seaham, County Durham
Seahouses, Northumberland
Selkirk, Scottish Borders
Settle, Craven
Sheffield, Sheffield
Shenfield, Brentwood
Shepton Mallet, Mendip
Sherborne, Dorset
Shirebrook, Derbyshire
Shotts, North Lanarkshire
Slaithwaite, Kirklees
South Elmsall, West Yorkshire
South End, Croydon
South Kensington, Kensington and Chelsea
South Molton, North Devon
Southampton, Fareham
Southsea, Portsmouth
Southwick, Adur
Southwold, East Suffolk
St David’s, Pembrokeshire
St Ives, Cornwall
St Johns, Colchester
St Oswald’s Retail Park, Gloucester
St Thomas Centre, Exeter
Stafford Road, Wolverhampton
Stalybridge, Lancashire
Station Parade, Brent
Station Road, Brighton
Stone, Staffordshire
Strathaven, South Lanarkshire
Stromness, Orkney Islands
Summertown, Oxford
Sutton Road, Maidstone
Swanley, Sevenoaks
Swansea – Morriston, Wales
Swinton, Salford
Tadcaster, Selby
Talbot Green, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Tarbert, Argyll and Bute
Teddington, Richmond upon Thames
Teignmouth, Devon
Tenby, Pembrokeshire
The Crescent, Colchester
The Forum, North Kesteven
The Sandlings, Ipswich
Thorne, South Yorkshire
Tilehurst, Reading
Tiptree, Colchester
Todmorden, Calderdale
Tonypandy, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Tower Bridge Road, Southwark
Trafford Centre, Manchester
Tranent, East Lothian
Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent
Treorchy, Wales
Tumble, Carmarthenshire
Ulverston, Cumbria
Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast
Uppingham Road, Leicester
Verwood, Dorset
Walsgrave Road, Coventry
Wanstead, Redbridge
Ware, Hertfordshire
Warrenpoint, Newry
Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland
Waterside, Derry City and Strabane
Wath Upon Dearne, South Yorkshire
Wembley, Brent
Weoley Castle, Birmingham
West Drayton, Greater London
West Kirby, Merseyside
West Mersea, Essex
Western International Market, Southall
Westhoughton, Bolton
Westhoughton, Lancashire
Wetherby, North Yorkshire
Whickham, Gateshead
Whickham, Gateshead
Whitby, North Yorkshire
Whitefriars, Norwich
Whiteladies Road, Bristol
Wickersley, Rotherham
Willesden Green, Greater London
Williton, Somerset West and Taunton
Wimborne Road, Bournemouth
Withernsea, East Yorkshire
Withington, Manchester
Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes
Wolseley Road, Plymouth
Wombourne, South Staffordshire
Woolton, Liverpool
Wotton-Under-Edge, Stroud
Yarm, Stockton-on-Tees
Yeadon, Leeds
Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly
Ystradgynlais, Powys
