The Huddersfield branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland is to close in March meaning a new use will have to be found for the impressive grade II-listed building.

NatWest Group, which owns RBS, has announced that the branch in Market Place will close on March 29 and be sold off.

The company has this week submitted planning applications for listed building consent to remove the ATM cash machine, night safe and signage and reinstate any stone cladding or window frames as necessary.

In a document on its website, the bank has confirmed the closure and says the way people bank is changing with over-the-counter transactions down generally by 53% between January 2018 and February 2020, even before the pandemic.

More people are now banking online or using an app rather than visiting branches.

The bank has revealed that in Huddersfield:

  • Between 2017 and 2019 counter transactions for personal customers decreased by 41%;
  • Only two personal customers used the branch on a regular basis;
  • In 2019 50% of personal customers using the branch also use digital banking or the app;
  • The branch was used by 133 business customers on a regular basis in 2019.

The bank says it used data from 2019 as that represented “normal” branch usage before the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

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The bank says personal customers will still be able to speak to an advisor over the phone or online and day-to-day banking, including depositing cheques with a credit slip, can be carried out at local post offices.

Business customers can also use the post office or any branch of RBS or the NatWest.

A spokesman for NatWest Group said it was the intention to sell the building once the branch was closed.

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