Today, LINK, the UK’s Cash Access and ATM network, has confirmed Prestatyn will be home to a Banking Hub following a community request.
As part of a landmark agreement between the banks and building societies, following the closure of any bank branch, LINK will identify whether a community requires further cash services. This process was opened to all communities in the summer and thanks to a request from Dr James Davies, MP for Vale of Clwyd, Prestatyn is one of four new hubs confirmed today.
Banking Hubs are a shared banking space, similar to a traditional bank branch, but available to everyone. The hub will consist of a counter service operated by Post Office employees, where customers of any bank can withdraw and deposit cash, make bill payments can carry out regular banking transactions.
In addition, there will be private spaces where customers can speak to community bankers from their own bank for more complicated matters that require specialist knowledge or privacy. The banks will be working on a rotating basis, so there will be staff from different banks available on different days.
Prestatyn has been without a major bank since 2021 meaning residents and businesses having to travel over five kilometres to nearby Rhyl to bank.
The Banking Hub will now be delivered by Cash Access UK. Over the next few weeks they will begin to engage with the local community and to start looking for potential sites. While finding a suitable location varies from place to place, they will be working as quickly as possible to launch the new hub.
Dr James Davies, MP for Vale of Clwyd, said:
"Having been very concerned about bank closures, I have been campaigning on access to cash and how the lack of face-to-face banking services affects the local community and High Street. Thank you to LINK, who have engaged with me closely on this issue. I look forward to the next steps and a Bank Hub opening in Prestatyn.”
Nick Quin, Head of Financial Inclusion, LINK, said:
“We’re really pleased to confirm that Prestatyn will receive a banking hub and we hope more communities will apply. We know more people are banking online, but there are still millions of people who rely on cash. Banking Hubs are proving exceptionally popular with consumers and helping to breathe life back into high streets.”
Today’s other Hubs will be in Bury Park (Beds), Haslemere (Surrey) and Welling (South East London).
Six other locations will receive deposit solutions. To date, there are two Banking Hubs open in Cambuslang (South Lanarkshire) and Rochford (Essex) and following today’s announcement, 27
further Hubs are being delivered collectively by the banks and are planned to open in the coming months.
