Barclays have announced they will be closing 12 more bank branches across England and Wales in August, including the Wilmslow branch.
A Barclays spokesperson said: "As visits to branches continue to fall, we need to adapt to provide the best service for all our customers.
"Where there is no longer enough demand to support a branch, we maintain an in-person presence though our Barclays Local network, live in over 200 locations, based in libraries, town halls, mobile vans and our new banking pods.
"We also support access to cash with our cashback without purchase service, 24-hour deposit-taking ATMs and by working alongside the Post Office and Cash Access UK."
Barclay Bank will close their Grove Street branch permanently from 12pm on Friday 25 August.
Barclays stated that "When deciding whether to close this branch, we looked carefully at how it's been used and how customers are banking in other ways."
- 92% of people who use our branch have also banked using the app, online and by phone in 2021
- Less than 10 customers use this branch regularly as the only way to do their banking
- 13% of this branch's customers have used nearby branches in the last 12 months
A spokesperson for the Wilmslow branch added "We'll be here for you – just in a different way. We want to reassure you that we're here to help. We'll stay in your community and you'll be able to talk to us in person. We're finalising the details of where we'll be based, and when, to support you with your banking, and we'll share the details locally once confirmed.
"We'll be available to help you with things like day-to-day banking queries and helping you manage your money, though there won't be access to cash at this site. We'll also add the location and opening times on our website – just search 'Barclays branch finder'."
If you have any concerns or would like to talk to us about this closure, or you'd like some help with what to do once it's closed, please get in touch. You can call us on 03457 3453452 , or email Lisa McCormick, your Customer Care Director for Manchester & Cheshire [email protected]
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I am a frequent visitor to the Wilmslow branch and I do not understand the comment that footfall is falling - I am sure it is but the reasons need to be critically assessed.
Whenever I have visited in the period since lock down I have always has to queue for at least 20 minutes. This is because the staffing has been reduced to one desk - and staffed by someone who was either undertrained or was less than competent. I wonder if this was a plan to force people to stay away.
I have taken the opportunity to questions my fellow customers in the queue. Like me they are technically competent and are familiar with on line banking and the Barclays app. They are visiting the branch because their particular issue could not be answered by the mechanised on line system. Also like me, the find the walk to their local branch takes up less time than trying to get Barclays to answer the telephone. I live 1.1miles from the Wilmslow branch. It is a more efficient use of my time to walk to the branch than to telephone Barclays.
So my message to Barclays - if you are to proceed to close your branch network, you must heavily invest in your totally unacceptable service levels on your telephone systems. On line will never deal with non standard queries - and what is non standard to your customers will not be the same as you think it is. You must be able to answer all telephone calls in less than 45 seconds and your staff must be trained so that they can refer queries to someone properly trained and experienced if they are faced with issues outside their knowledge.
I live in hope! And I would say that I have always been well served by Barclays but it now takes much longer and much more effort to get the levels of service to which I had become accustomed.
I am the treasurer of a local community group and we have a "Community" account with Barclays. My experience of trying to contact Barclays on the phone is very similar to yours. Every time I go into the branch I have to queue.
For this reason, I will be recommending that we change bank accounts at our next committee meeting.
Another time I was there after the windows had closed, there was one man with a personal banker. I experimented to see how long it would take for someone to help me. I waited 57 MINUTES before a lady came to apologise, but even then she couldn’t help. Yet another time, the bank had no Euros (not had time to order them!)
It is true that the staff are undertrained or less than competent, and also present quite an unprofessional appearance - laddered tights, scuffed shoes, collars and ties loose. Compare this with the branches in Canary Wharf and ask why Wilmslow should deserve less.
I have found that Barclays are good in chasing unusual activity on an account, but the telephone service is dire, and if you manage to get past the voice recognition and actually speak to a human, it is usually quite difficult to understand what is said.
As for all the guff about "We are here for you and Barclays Local Network," the people of Wilmslow can easily see through this for what it is excuses - for a failing service. How sad.