BANKING giant Barclays is to close its branch in Fore Street, Wellington, becoming the third bank to shut in the town in just over a year.

Barclays says fewer people are using the branch, which will shut on Friday, April 20, as more customers bank online. The HSBC bank in Wellington closed on February 24 and the town’s Nat West branch shut on October 9, leaving Lloyds as the only bank in Wellington after Barclays closes.

Barclays, which says its four staff at the town branch will be transferred elsewhere, reported a £3.2bn pre-tax profit for 2016 in February last year. According to consumer platform Which? more than 1,000 high street bank branches were closed between January 2015 and January 2017.

For the full story see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.