Fury as major bank closes on UK high street and kebab shop opens in its place | UK | News
Residents in a London borough are angry at the closure of Barclays Bank, which has been replaced by a kebab shop. In April this year a major banking branch “annoyed” local residents by completely closing its doors on Walworth Road in South London. In its place, a kebab shop was opened on the main street, and the food chain started welcoming customers from the end of October.
Since the opening of the fast-food restaurant, reactions among nearby residents have been mixed. One commenter on social media said: “Barclays didn’t close for this.” Another TikTok user highlighted that there was already one “in the county,” and others called the change “annoying.” Others said it was unnecessary as there was already a Popeyes on Walworth Road.
The closure of the Barclays branch was not unexpected, as a number of branches have permanently closed over the last few years. 413 branches have been closed since February 2022. During the same period, 460 Lloyds bank branches also closed.
In total, around 2,209 bank branches have closed across the UK since February 2022. This is because the number of people switching to online banking is increasing and, as a result, the demand for retail banking is decreasing.
The Walworth Community said they were “shocked” by the news from Barclays, adding that it was an “incredibly well-used bank”.
But the big bank said the closures were based on its own data, which revealed that 96% of customers using the branch were also online banking customers. Only 15% of customers regularly use the branch for banking transactions.
Justifying the South London closure, a Barclay report said: “When we opened this branch, visiting us in person was one of the only ways you could do your banking.
“As there are now so many ways to manage your money without even leaving your home, we are finding that many customers are choosing to bank using our app, Online Banking or Phone Banking. This has had a huge impact on the number of customers coming to see us.”
