THE BRANCHES of Barclay’s Bank in Northfield and Rubery are set to close.
They will both shut their doors on December 7 and, the bank has announced, a new branch in Longbridge will open three days later on December 10.
The company claims there has been a reduction in customer numbers across the two branches as more people use online services.
It added the new branch, which was two miles away from each of the other branches, would offer better disability access, a 24 hour cash machine and longer opening hours including Saturday and a late night opening on a Thursday until 7pm.
Chris Payne, Barclay’s community banking director, said: “The way customers undertake their banking is changing as people increasingly use online, telephone and mobile devices.
“At Barclays Northfield and Rubery branches, customer usage has continued to fall and eight out of ten of our customers also use telephone and online banking, which is why we have taken the difficult decision to close both branches.”
He added customers could undertake daily transactions at the Post Offices in Northfield town centre and Rubery village ‘to ease the transition for our customers’.
All customers will receive a letter and the decision to close document will be displayed in each branch and ‘tea and teach’ sessions will be held for customers who want to learn how to take up digital banking.
One Rubery resident hit out at the move.
She said: “My mum’s 93 years old and was a nurse in the Second World War.
“She usually walks to the bank in the village and will struggle to get to the Longbridge branch.
“And it’s not just her – there are loads more elderly people like her.
“It’s alright saying people can go online, but at that age they don’t want the hassle or have to worry about what buses to get to the bank and where to get off.
“The problem is that more and more things in society are geared towards young people and what they want and the elderly are being made to feel like they have lived too long.
“It’s not just Rubery, it’s a national problem but it is getting worse and worse by the day for those affected.”
