'Plan B' for Wellington's new banking hub could see the service operate from a portable cabin in a car park. 

A replacement banking hub service is set to serve Wellington after Lloyds bank on Fore Street closes in September. 

However, doubts have been raised over whether the hub will be introduced in good time, and the form it will take. Just five banking hubs have been opened across the country, despite an average of 54 bank branches closing every month since January 2015. 

Cash Access service UK, who are responsible for introducing the hubs, are investigating permanent premises for a hub in Wellington. It is understood they had looked at moving into the Lloyds building, but that the site was already under offer. 

Despite repeatedly reaching out to Cash Access UK, the town council has not received news of fresh progress since early April. 

If the banking hub fails to arrive by the time of Lloyd's planned closure, the high street bank will keep its doors open for a further six months. 

However the Wellington Weekly has learned that Cash Access UK have a 'plan B', if they fail to find a suitable premises in time. 

Cash Access UK are understood to be considering a portable banking hub, which might be housed in a cabin. The portable cabin would likely be positioned on council land, with the most accessible council land to the town centre being car parks. 

Wellington Town Cllr Andrew Govier met with LINK in April. He said: "We had a meeting with the people looking to set it up. I haven’t heard anything since then but it’s only quite hopeful that we might end up getting something. 

“They told us they were still looking for a premises that was really as far as it went. They were very keen to get it sorted and they were visiting some premises that they were hoping to be able to use. 

“The ‘Plan B’ could be a bit more like the existing one that comes in from Nat West, but that’s something we need to avoid if we can. That certainly has limitations with the weather and that sort of thing, we are very keen on a permanent solution. 

“We have suggested some different places for hubs. We talked through lots of properties through the town and they had seen some, but they have specific size requirements. We don’t think a temporary hub is much good really. It’s alright om a sunny day when people don’t mine standing around outside but if it’s horrible rain and that sort of things it’s not very good. 

“LINK said the hubs are a new concept, but that all the main banks had signed up to it and that would be speeding up the process. But they did say it was a lengthy process from identifying the town as needing a hub to setting it up. Each one takes quite a period of time to sort out."

Lloyd's Wellington branch is set to close on Wednesday, September 13. Lloyds have confirmed if the banking hub is not established before the date of its planned closure, it will keep its doors open for a further twelve months. 

In a statement Lloyds said: "If the Banking Hub is not up and running by the listed closure date of September 13 2023, we’ll keep the branch open for up to 12 months starting from March 29 to allow for a smooth transition of banking services in the community."