Villagers upset as bank announces closure date

Aug 27 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

VILLAGERS have hit out after an announcement that will make Friday 13th unlucky for their community.

November 13 is the closure date announced by Barclays for its branch in Front Street in Tynemouth.

“It will be a sad day and will mean another vacant unit in Front Street,” said Tynemouth Village Association chairman Nigel Bryant.

“We seem to be losing essential services but there are more and more drinking establishments.

“The bank will be a definite miss. There are a lot of elderly and retired people in Tynemouth and losses like the bank alter the character of the village.”

A Barclays spokesperson said: “Like all retailers, we regularly review all of our business operations, including our branch network, to ensure we are operating in an efficient way and providing the correct services for our customers where they need them.

“This often means opening or refurbishing a branch, but occasionally the decision might be made to close a branch, for example where we have two or more branches very close to each other with low customer traffic.

“Following a thorough review, the decision has been made to close the Tynemouth branch which is very close to several other branches and is a small branch with low customer usage.”

Meanwhile, a North Tyneside Council report has revealed that in neighbouring Whitley Bay town centre, there are now 46 empty shop premises.

The town centre has lost its Woolworths, Marks and Spencer and T&G Allan stores and last week saw the closure of the Select clothing store.

“The area is evidently struggling in terms of occupancy of retail units,” says the report.

Next week councillors will decide on a planning bid to open a hot food takeaway at what is described as a “very prominent” town centre location.

Ward councilor Alison Austin has objected to the takeaway bid on the grounds that there is already a considerable number of hot food outlets in the area, and the proposal would be an over-development of this kind of usage. Eight letters of objection have also been received.

But planners who say the proposal would bring an empty unit back into use in a struggling part of the town centre, are advising that the bid should be approved.