A NORTH East bank has become the latest victim of widespread closures after it was announced that it was going to shut its doors later this year – leaving users a mile away from their nearest branch.

Barclays Bank revealed on Monday (May 30) that its Gateshead site would become part of its ‘transformative’ plans to close 40 of its branches this year – and it will close its doors on Friday, July 1.

Setting out why the bank, on the High Street, will close, the company highlighted that only 29 customers regularly use its services, while also citing that customers are moving online.

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In a statement, Barclays said: “Before we make the decision to close any branch, we think carefully about how it has been used so far.

“We consider how many customers have been visiting, what kind of transactions they've been making, and all the other ways they've been choosing to bank with us.

“We also take into consideration the availability of other branches in the wider community.”

According to the bank, the main reason for the closure was down to:

Here are the main reasons why the Gateshead branch is closing:

• The number of counter transactions has gone up in the two years to March 2020, however 87 per cent of our branch customers also use other ways to do their banking such as online and by telephone.

• Customers using other ways to do their banking has increased by 13 per cent since 2015.

• In the past 12 months, 50 per cent of this branch's customers have been using nearby branches.

• We’ve identified that only 29 customers use this branch exclusively for their banking.

Now that the Gateshead branch is scheduled to close, customers will have to travel to Barclays banks at either Northumberland Street in Newcastle (1.1 miles away) or Team Valley (2.9 miles away).

Alternatively, there is a free cash machine 0.1 miles away at Tesco, 01.miles away at Lloyds, or Post Office facilities on Jackson Street, Gateshead (0.1 miles away) or Coatsworth Street (0.9miles away).

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