Coulsdon residents are “appalled” and “disappointed”, after Barclays announced plans to close its Brighton Road branch, the town’s last remaining bank.
With NatWest and Lloyds already long gone, that would leave business owners and Coulsdon residents facing hour-long trips to Croydon or Wallington to do ‘physical’ banking.
The closure of Barclays could even make Coulsdon almost cashless: the bank branch has one of two remaining ATMs in the town.
Cashed: the Barclays branch in Coulsdon which the company decided to close
Barclays says that 92% of its branch customers “can use other payment methods, including online and telephone banking”, and that “the number of customers using other payment methods has increased by 11 %”.
The bank claims that “over the past 12 months, 32% of customers have used other branches” and that “only 27 customers use the branch exclusively”.
The East Coulsdon Residents Association wrote to Barclays protesting the closure.
“We believe this decision is wrong and not in the interest of a small town like Coulsdon…The decision fails to take into account that Barclays is the only remaining bank in Coulsdon with one of two only ATMs,
“Coulsdon is a viable town center which, unlike many other district centres, has very few vacant outlets. Over the past five years, we have had over 2,000 new homes and a significant increase in population.
Charlie King, Chairman of ECRA, in his letter to Barclays, said: “As a regular visitor to Coulsdon town centre, I can confirm that there is always a queue outside the branch most of the time the branch is open. I also point out that the opening hours of the branch have considerably decreased. First during the covid confinement by reducing the opening hours to four days, then more recently by restricting the opening to the morning only on these four days only.
Every little contribution: a truck driver did not check his GPS in the direction of Coulsdon
“We would like to express our dismay and disappointment at news of your intention to close the Coulsdon branch of Barclays Bank,” King wrote.
If that’s not one thing, it’s another, with the main road into Coulsdon and the railway line closed on Thursday, when the last HGV driver managed to wedge his truck under the railway bridge at the out of town.
It took several hours before the truck could be cleared and the railway bridge checked for safety.
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