ONE of the UK’s ‘big five’ high street banks has revealed plans to shut 14 more branches across England and Wales in June - including one in Wiltshire.

Barclays has announced plans to close the branch at 66 Market Place, Chippenham on June 23.

These closures will be in addition to the 55 branches that Barclays had already planned to shut this year, meaning at least 69 branches across the UK will shut in 2023. 

Barclays’ decision is in line with other major banks, which have all shut branches as more people move to online banking. 

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.”

The proposed closure of the Chippenham branch in June follows Barclays’ decision to close other Wiltshire branches, including those in Devizes, Marlborough, Warminster and Westbury.

One customer said: “Not everyone has access to the internet or have a mobile phone or tablet to do online banking.”

The decision is likely to affect tradespeople and shopkeepers who sometimes need to bank cash, and elderly and vulnerable people who struggle to use online and telephone banking.

From June, they will need to travel further to a larger town or city to find a Barclays branch, unless they switch to another bank.

The UK’s leading banks have closed swathes of high street branches since 2015 as customers switch to online and telephone banking. 

Lloyds, Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Santander have all closed more than half of their branches in the past eight years.

The latest announcement from Barclays means their customers will now need to rely on pop-up sites and 'banking pods' if they require in-person support. 

These 'banking pods' are semi-permanent sites which can be moved across different towns and cities to satisfy demand. 

Barclays has 200 pop-up sites and ten 'banking pods', with plans to add another 70 pop-up sites in the near future. 

In addition, the company runs an educational and support van service to provide financial advice to their customers.