Residents of a rural County Durham market town fear the closure of the last remaining bank will further isolate their community.
Barclays in Middleton in Teesdale closed for the final time on Friday (November 17), with locals now facing a 20 mile round trip to the nearest branch.
The closure means there will be no bespoke banking facilities left in the town and just one cash point.
The bank claims just 19 customers used the branch regularly as the only way to do their banking, while 79 per cent of customers banked using the Barclays app, online or by phone in 2021.
When the Local Democracy Reporting Service visited on Friday, residents and businesses said the bank was a godsend.
Barclays representatives will instead be based out of Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (UTASS) twice a week but no cash services will be available.
Barclays in Middleton in Teesdale closed for the final time on Friday (November 17) (Image: The Northern Echo)
Emma Spry, an admin support worker at the charity, said the bank’s reduced opening hours had become restrictive to customers but its staff still provided invaluable support.
“You try to phone them now and immediately you’re put on hold for 40 minutes to speak to somebody. It’s almost like they don’t want customers.”
The loss of the Post Office in the town is still felt in the town, Emma said, but losing the bank is now “another barrier to get over”.
She added: “We just feel forgotten here, it’s like we don’t matter.”
At McFarlane Family Butchers Alastair McFarlane warned that cashless payments were costly for local businesses.
“Everywhere is becoming more and more cashless and everybody seems to pay with their card nowadays,” he said.
“It’s going to be a really big loss. Most people here are pensioners who don’t know how to use the online services.”
Local businesses will be impacted by the bank closure, Alastair McFarlane said. (Image: The Northern Echo)
By midday on Friday the Barclays cash machine had stopped working. One resident, who did not give her name, said the bank would be a huge miss to the area.
“It didn’t just serve Middleton in Teesdale, it served right up the dale. There used to be three banks here and now they’re all gone.”
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