HSBC to close its Market Harborough branch

HSBC bank is set to close its Harborough branch in May.

It says customers numbers have dropped ‘significantly’ since the pandemic and is shutting 114 branches across the country as more people bank online.

The bank says it will try and redeploy staff but admits around 100 will lose their jobs.

The closures come after HSBC said in March it was set to close 69 branches.

It says more than nine out of ten banking transactions are now done online and some branches have less than 250 customers through the door each week.

Jackie Uhi, HSBC UK's managing director of UK distribution, said: "People are changing the way they bank and footfall in many branches is at an all-time low, with no signs of it returning.

"Banking remotely is becoming the norm for the vast majority of us.

"The decision to close a branch is never easy or taken lightly, especially if we are the last branch in an area, so we've invested heavily in our 'post-closure' strategy, including providing free tablet devices to selected branch customers who do not already have a device to bank digitally, alongside one-to-one coaching to help them migrate to digital banking."

The bank says it will invest millions in its remaining 327 branches.

The closure on Harborough’s High Street comes a month after it was announced Natwest was set to shut its branch in the town.

Halifax also closed in the town centre nearly a year ago, and in nearby Lutterworth Lloyds Bank is set to close.

Leader of the opposition Cllr Phil Knowles called the closure ‘a huge blow’.

He said: “It will be of deep concern to a number of people and if you look at the demographic of the area you can see why. A lot of people are reticent to do online banking so that will bring additional difficulties.

"I hope HSBC might be encouraged to look again at this which is something we can hope for but may not be able to deliver. We need to push them and see if we can get some sort of reprieve.”