‘Enough is enough – we need our cash’: meet the rural town fighting back against bank closures
This is a heart warming story from the Yorkshire Dales based on the magical community of Hawes which has always shown a strong resilient attitude. It represents a real breakthrough in appreciating that there is more than one way to skin a building society in a rural town. It tells us:
Rural communities across the country know all too well the damage that bank branch closures are causing. However, a growing number of villages and small towns have seen little-known providers step in to fill the breach after Britain’s largest banks have fled.
Hawes is a picturesque town in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, most famous for being the home of Wensleydale cheese. The community was rocked when its two bank branches, a Barclays and an HSBC, closed their doors. This meant residents faced a 33-mile round trip through winding country lanes to their nearest bank in Leyburn.
But the community fought back and mounted a successful campaign to bring banking services back. Newcastle Building Society officially opened a branch in the town on Thursday, meaning small businesses and residents are not cut off from their money after being left in the lurch by the big banks….