With high street closures at an all time high, not even banks are safe from the reduced footfall — as our interactive map shows which areas will lose banks across the UK
More than 100 bank branches are set to close in 2026 as the retreat from the high street continues at pace. So far this year, closure dates have been fixed for 73 branches of the major banks, including Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland.
Another 29 branches have announced plans to close but have yet to set the final date. That’s a total of 102 closures.
Lloyds is leading the way with 40 banks either approaching their final closure or awaiting an end date. Another 18 Santander branches, 17 Bank of Scotland branches, 15 Halifax branches, and seven NatWest branches are due to shutter.
Lloyds and Santander announced a raft of closures last year, blaming the decision on customers shifting away from in-person banking to using mobile services. Some 35 branches will have vanished from high streets by the end of this month, with two more due to close in February, and an additional 23 in March.
The remaining closures will take place in July and October, or are yet to be determined. Cornwall has been hardest hit by the major banks’ retreat from the high street, with four banks so far scheduled to close this year, and another two that have yet to fix an end date.
It follows 13 branch closures last year, six in 2024, 14 in 2023, and six in 2022, a total loss of 45 banks. Scotland’s Highland council area is also likely to lose six banks this year, including two that have yet to announce a closure date.
In total, Scotland is set to lose 20 banks, with five due to close in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. Of the remaining 76 closures in England, the South East and the South West are the worst affected, with 17 bank branches closing in each region.
You can check our interactive map to see if any banks are due to close near you.
Since February 2022, when all the major banking groups committed to a voluntary agreement to assess the impact of every closure, a total of 2,065 branches have either shut or announced plans to close. That’s an average of at least one closure per day, or eight per week.
The LINK initiative was established to scrutinise each closure and ensure that vulnerable customers and small businesses were not left behind in the transition to cashless payments and virtual banking. When closures leave communities without any local bank, banking hubs or free ATMs are set up to fill the gap.
Nick Quin, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, LINK: “More people are choosing to bank and pay for things digitally. Many people rely entirely on their smartphones when they leave the home, and don’t carry cash or even a wallet. That means cash use is falling too, but it remains critical, and over £76bn was withdrawn from LINK cash machines last year.
“Whenever a bank branch does close, LINK will assess the impact to see if additional cash services are required. We’re committed to protecting the cash infrastructure for the millions of people who still rely on it.”
Gareth Oakley, CEO, Cash Access UK: “The way people are banking is changing as more people choose to bank and pay for things digitally. But for those people who still rely on cash and face-to-face banking services, the good news is that more banking hubs are opening every week.
“We’ve opened more than 200 now, including 100 in 2025 alone. What’s particularly brilliant about hubs is that we can serve the customers of all the major high street banks in one location.
“They’re getting busier too with on average around 150 customer transactions every day. There’s a real buzz about them.
“Hubs alongside deposit services and other new cash solutions will continue to help businesses and consumers to readily access and deposit cash when they need to.”
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