A bank which has been the fabric of Plympton Ridgeway for many decades is set to follow the trend already adopted by many of its competitors and close its doors for the final time.
Lloyds Bank has announced it will be closing its Ridgeway branch from September 7. This will leave Santander as the only remaining bank in Ridgeway which was once also host to high street names such as HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and TSB.
Lloyds claims that personal customers’ transactions in the Plympton branch have fallen by more than half in the past five years, with an even higher fall of around two thirds for branch based transactions by business customers.
Defending its decision to close the branch the bank says that 46% of customers using the Plympton branch also use other available branches of the bank and that 78% already use a mix of other branches along with internet and phone banking. They also point out that 24% of the branch’s customers also use the Post Office where they will continue to be able to do a range of banking transactions after the closure of the branch.
Lloyds also point out that customers will be able to still use the Plymstock Broadway branch and that there are ‘regular bus services to Plymstock.’ However there is currently no direct bus link between Plympton and Plymstock and this has led to calls from residents to reinstate the former Citybus number 14 bus link between the two towns, especially as the city’s new crematorium being built at Saltram is on the route of that former service and would otherwise be inaccessible to bus travellers.
A Lloyds bank branch at Royal Parade in Plymouth city centre will also still be available after the closure of the Plympton branch.
The news of the impending Plympton branch closure has not been greeted with enthusiasm by its customers. One said;
“I’m absolutely disgusted. I’ve been a Lloyds bank customer for 55 years and this is how you’re treated. It’s always busy there so I cannot understand why they’re closing other than to make more profit.”
Another commented:
“Strange they say it’s not very busy as every time I go there it’s always very busy. Also during lockdown half way up the street we were queuing.”
A further customer said that they had been told by staff that although the branch is busy it is not with what the bank classed as ‘profitable business’. (Story courtesy of the Plympton Podcast)
