CALLS of been made by MP Harriett Baldwin for Barclays Bank to rethink its plans to close its busy Malvern branch.
The West Worcestershire representative said she was disappointed and had written to the chief executive about the decision.
It comes just two years after bosses claimed they were committed to the bank’s long-term future.
Ms Baldwin visited the busy Worcester Road branch in 2019 when she was briefed on plans to improve local banking services and invest in new technology to speed up services.
But the bank has now decided to shut the branch down in August forcing customers to make significant extra journeys to Ledbury or Worcester to carry out face-to-face banking.
Ms Baldwin said: “I’m a regular user of the Malvern Barclays Bank and I know from first-hand how busy it can be, so I challenge the bank’s report which claims it isn’t used much.
“I can understand that banks have seen much less footfall in the last year, but I simply don’t believe that this particular branch is in decline. The staff told me as much when I met with them in 2019.
“The banks seem to be taking steps to use coronavirus as cover to make difficult business decisions but in this case,
“I have written to the bank’s chief executive and asked him to look again at the statistics underlying this decision.”
