Fourth Frome bank to close in July

HALIFAX on The Bridge is closing in July, as the bank says fewer people are using the branch, blaming the rise of internet and telephone banking.  

The bank will be the fourth one to close its doors to the town in the last year, leaving TSB on Cheap Street, the Nationwide Building Society in the Market Place and the Portway Post Office as the only places in town where residents and business owners can seek help for their banking and financial needs.

In a statement, Halifax said, “Before we close any branch, we look at how our customers are managing their money and using the branch. Most customers are now using our mobile app, internet banking, or calling us instead, which means they are using branches, including the Frome branch, much less.”

The bank has said Halifax customers in Frome can still use the nearby cash machines located outside TSB and Nationwide, to process their financial transactions for Halifax.

A member of Prosper Frome, the group looking to solve Frome’s ‘banking crisis’, Jeremy Smeddle, said, “The loss of the Halifax is another sad milestone on the journey to a bankless Frome. And yet we still do not fit the government’s criteria for a banking hub. We are still pushing for a community-based option, and have a project in mind, but government policy does not make this easy.”

The nearest Halifax to Frome is in Trowbridge or Bath.