The Crowborough branch of Santander is to close, Crowborough News can reveal.
The Crowborough high street branch is one of 95 that Santander plans to close before the end of the year. Branches in Uckfield and East Grinstead have also been ear-marked for closure but with no date yet fixed.
Santander announced this morning that was closing nearly a quarter of its high street branches, including Crowborough, putting 750 jobs at risk around the country.
The high street lender has announced plans to close 95 of the bank’s existing 444 UK branches. Of the remaining branches, 36 will operate on reduced hours branches and 18 will be “counter-free”.
Only 290 full-service Santanders will remain.
The bank says the continued move to online banking is the reason for the closures. The bank said financial transactions completed in branches fell 61% since 2019 while the use of internet banking to open accounts and conduct banking rose.
“Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers,” a spokesperson said.
Defending the closure decision, Santander said 93% of the UK population will continue to be within 10 miles of a Santander branch. It pointed out its customers can conduct banking in 11,000 Post Office branches nationwide and 112 banking hubs.