Barclays to close both its Tottenham Court Road bank branches

Barclays says that its two bank branches at Tottenham Court Road will both be permanently closing down within the next 12 months.

A notice in the window of the bank at 154-155 Tottenham Court Road says the branch will be closing at 12pm on Friday 10 May 2024.

This closure will be followed by the other branch at 15-17 Tottenham Court Road which is due to permanently close at 12pm on Friday 10 January 2025.

However, Barclays has postponed the closing of 15-17 Tottenham Court Road and has issued the following statement which appears in the window of the branch.

“We were due to close Tottenham Court Road branch on Friday 1 November 2024. We’re staying open while we work with Link, who are an independent industry body, to assess whether you will need more cash services in your community once this branch closes. We’ll share our new closing date locally as soon as we know it.”

Notices in the windows of both branches are directing customers to use the 15-17 Great Portland Street branch after that date.

Barclays says that when the branches opened “visiting us in person was one of the only ways to do your banking”.

In a statement giving reasons for the closures the bank says “we’re seeing many customers choosing to bank using our app, and online or telephone banking. This has had a big impact on the number of customers coming in to see us”.

According to the bank, 96 percent of its customers at both the branches also use online or telephone banking. It said less than 10 customers use the 154-155 Tottenham Court Road branch regularly as the only way to do their banking, and that less than 40 customers use the 15-17 Tottenham Court Road branch.

The consumer website Money Saving Expert reported last month that “Barclays will shut at least another 99 bank branches throughout 2024 and 2025 after announcing 22 more closures. This is in addition to the 177 branches it closed in 2023.”

After the closures Barclays will be the only one of the “big four banks” not to have a single branch on Tottenham Court Road.

This article was updated on 3 October 2024 and again on 21 November 2024 to report that Barclays has postponed the closing of 15-17 Tottenham Court Road.