More than 100 bank branches are scheduled to shut down in 2026, contributing to the ongoing trend of high street retreat. Closure dates have already been confirmed for 73 branches belonging to major banking institutions such as Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland this year.
An additional 29 branches have announced impending closures without finalizing specific dates, bringing the total number of closures to 102. Lloyds leads the closures with 40 branches either in the process of closing or awaiting closure dates. Santander, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, and NatWest follow with 18, 17, 15, and 7 branches respectively set to close.
Last year, both Lloyds and Santander announced multiple closures, attributing the decision to a shift in customer preference towards mobile banking over in-person services. By the end of this month, 35 branches will have disappeared from high streets, with two more closures in February and an additional 23 in March.
The remaining closures are scheduled for July and October or are yet to be determined. Cornwall has been significantly impacted by the retreat of major banks, with four branches confirmed for closure this year and two more awaiting closure dates. In the previous years, there were 13 closures in 2025, six in 2024, 14 in 2023, and six in 2022, totaling 45 closures. Scotland’s Highland council area is also expected to lose six banks this year, including two without announced closure dates.
Scotland anticipates losing a total of 20 banks, with five closures in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. Of the remaining 76 closures in England, the South East and South West regions are most affected, with 17 closures in each region. Since February 2022, major banking groups have collectively announced the closure or planned closure of 2,065 branches, with an average of at least one closure per day or eight closures per week.
The LINK initiative was established to oversee each closure and ensure that vulnerable customers and small businesses are not disadvantaged during the transition to cashless and virtual banking. In areas left without a local bank post-closure, banking hubs or free ATMs are established to bridge the gap.
Nick Quin, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at LINK, highlighted the increasing digital banking trend and emphasized the ongoing importance of cash transactions. Gareth Oakley, CEO of Cash Access UK, mentioned the rising popularity of digital banking while reassuring those reliant on cash that more banking hubs are opening regularly to provide accessible cash services. He also noted the convenience of these hubs in serving customers of multiple high street banks in a single location.