NORTH Cornwall’s residents will be forced to look elsewhere for their banking needs after Lloyds Bank and Halifax announced further branch closures in the area.

Residents in Launceston will soon be without even more of its physical banks within the town’s centre after the latest round of branch closures named the town’s Lloyds Bank and Halifax branches.

Lloyds bank, currently based on Broad Street, and Halifax on Southgate Street have been included among some 122 branch closures across the two organisations.

According to Lloyds branch review - which is carried out to assess the productivity of any given branch - 688 customers transacted at the counter or Immediate Deposit Machine four months out of six months ending July 2024. Only 11 per cent of those were by people aged 18 to 34, while 39 per cent came from the 55 to 74 age range, and 27 per cent from over 75s.

During the same period, as detailed in the Halifax branch review, only 190 customers transacted at the counter or Immediate Deposit Machine. Once again the largest share of this was by those aged between 55 to 74 (41 per cent).

Launceston’s branch of Lloyds has been scheduled for closure on May 12 this year, while Halifax’s Southgate Street branch will remain open until June 3, 2025.

In a statement about branch closures, the banks explained: “Before we close any branch, we look at how our customers are managing their money and using the branch. Most customers are now using our Mobile Banking app, Online Banking or calling us instead, which means they are using branches much less.

“Because of this, we'll be closing our Launceston branch.”

Following these closures, Launceston will be left with only two physical banks, Santander and NatWest.