Last bank closes in Britain’s smallest city as Lloyds shuts its doors and final free cashpoint – leaving thousands facing a 15-mile trek to nearest branch

•  Lloyds is the only bank in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, and is now set to close
• The closest bank will now be in Fishguard, 15 miles away 
• Local MP Stephen Crabb is leading the fight to save the city’s only bank 

Lloyds is closing one of it’s banks, and the last free cashpoint machine for locals and visitors in the cathedral city of St Davids in Pembrokeshire, leaving thousands of residents without a vital banking service in the area.

The 1,600-population city has thousands of visitors to the 12th century cathedral including the Prince and Princess of Wales just weeks ago.

Residents will now have to travel 15 miles to their closest branch in Fishguard, a 25-minute drive away. 

Angry local MP Stephen Crabb its taking the fight to save the city’s bank right to the top of Lloyds – and is calling for a mobile banking van if the branch closes as planned on November 27.

He has written to Charlie Nunn, CEO of Lloyds Bank requesting that the mobile banking van is used in St Davids as an alternative to the branch.

Lloyds is the only bank in the area and is part of list of recent bank closures

Locals will now have to travel 25 minutes by car if they want to visit a bank 

St Davids is the smallest city in Britain, with only 1,600 residents 

It is the resting place of Saint David, Wales’s patron saint, and named after him. St Davids was given city status in the 12th century.

Lloyds are directing its customers to use the facilities of the nearby Post Office counter located in CKs Supermarket for paying in and withdrawing cash.

Local MP Stephen Crabb has written to Charlie Nunn, CEO of Lloyds Bank

Mr Crabb said: ‘I received so many replies to my banking survey from residents in St Davids which demonstrates just how strongly people feel about this issue locally, and how important local banking services are for so many in the community.’

‘It was very helpful to hear local views on the impact of the closure of the Lloyds Bank branch in the city and the future options for residents.

‘This has come in very useful in my ongoing discussions with both Lloyds and LINK, in particular on maintaining access to cash in St Davids.’

He added, ‘I have recently had a further meeting with LINK and I’m pleased to confirm that a site has been identified for the ATM and negotiations with an operator are progressing well – I am hopeful that this will be positive news for the community.’

In his letter to Mr Nunn he states that ‘given that Lloyds Bank has the last branch in the community, this closure has raised significant concerns about the loss of important financial services in rural, isolated communities like St Davids, and represents the need for a fundamental shift in perspective for residents living there in terms of future accessibility and ability to meet their banking needs.’

Lloyds Banking Group stated that over 20 million of their customers regularly use online banking while 17.3 million use mobile banking.

As digital banking has grown, branch visits have subsequently fallen with all sites facing closure having decreased by an average of 55 per cent in the last five years.

Source: Read Full Article