Bank closure could lead to "death of a village"

HSBC announced plans to close its branch in Cerrigydrudion on November 13.

Nerys Davies, the manager of the White Lion pub in the village, said: “It will have a big impact on the village as a lot of people here rely on it.

“You see people stopping at the bank all the time.

“And we have a lot of businesses and farms here that rely on it as they can’t get to the towns in normal office hours.”

“It is a big shock,” she added.

“The first we knew about it was when we got the letter saying it was closing.

“It is soon going to die a death this village.”

The village’s sub-postmaster Paul Mills said that the closure will make it harder to do business in the area.

“I use the bank three times a week because you cannot do business banking with the post office, but now I will have to go to Bala or Ruthin to do the banking, which will take a few hours out of my day.

“If I go down to one trip a week I will need to start running a small overdraft.”

The plans to close the Cerrigydrudion branch later this year mark ‘another abandonment of rural Wales by the big banks’, according to Plaid Cymru’s North Wales AM.

Llyr Gruffydd called for HSBC to re-think its decision to close, saying it would mean a 30-mile round trip for local residents to Ruthin.

He said: “This is the latest in a long line of bank closures in rural areas over recent years that has left many communities without services.

“For people without cars, the problems of rural public transport makes travelling to Ruthin an additional hurdle.

“I have already contacted HSBC to express my opposition to the closure plans and urged the regional director Rachel Thomas to consider the implications of such a closure.

“What we must ensure now is that, at the very least, there is a cashpoint remaining in the village and that we have assurances of no further closures in the rural network of banks.”

The AM added: “Until recently people from the Cerrigydrudion area could have travelled to Corwen to their nearest HSBC branch.

“This, however, closed two years ago and customers were sent to Llangollen.

“Now that too has closed as this global corporation, which markets itself as the local bank, turns its back on our communities.”

A spokesman for HSBC said: “We are closing the HSBC branch in Cerrigydrudion on November 13. 

“We never take the decision to close a branch lightly, and we understand it's unsettling for the local community.

“Unfortunately, use of the Cerrigydrudion branch has fallen significantly over the past few years and we've taken the difficult decision to close it.

“We are working with customers who use the branch to help them understand their options, which include being able to use the Cerrigydrudion post office to check their balance and withdraw and pay in cash and cheques to their personal HSBC account.

“We are also working to provide a 24 hour ATM in the Cerrigydrudion locality. “