Bradford has lost almost 30 banks since 2015

Figures show that a staggering 29 banks have closed their doors since 2015 – a rate of four per year – leaving one Bradford constituency with no in-person banking facilities at all.

All areas of the district are affected. According to figures up to the end of April, five banks have been shuttered in Bradford East in the past seven years, leaving just three remaining in the area.

Seven have closed in Bradford West, leaving eight remaining, while the four banks open in Bradford South in 2015 are now gone.

The former Yorkshire Bank in Idle

Six closed in Keighley, leaving 12 remaining, and Shipley has five banks left after losing seven since 2015.

Age UK Bradford District has raised concerns about the closures and their impact on older people.

Chief Executive Mark Rounding said: “We would urge banks and building societies to work harder to respond to the needs of their older customers and our ageing society and to raise awareness of the risk that older people cannot access these essential services in the community.”

The former Yorkshire Bank in Queensbury

He said around a quarter of people aged 65 to 74 and three-fifths of those aged 75 and over do not regularly use the internet.

“Many older people also have a strong preference for in-branch banking, with face-to-face services allowing the chance to talk to people – an important component of tackling loneliness in our communities,” he said.

“In-branch banking also offers peace of mind and the security of seeing bank transactions take place and receiving a paper record to prove it.”

What was once Santander in Bingley

He said shrinking bank networks would exacerbate problems in deprived areas.

Meanwhile, Bradford South MP Judith Cummins spoke of how the closure of the last bank in her constituency – Santander in Wibsey – means many people must now travel three miles to access in-person banking.

She said: “The loss of local branches reduces convenient access to cash. While there is a growing trend to online banking and cashless transactions, research by the Financial Conduct Authority shows that five million adults in the UK still use cash for most of their purchases, meanwhile the Bank of England found that 1.2 million adults do not even have bank accounts.”

The old Barclays bank in Shipley

She said not everyone wants, or is able to use, internet banking and added: “I do not want to see people cut off from full participation in society, unable to buy goods and use services.”