Branches of Lloyds, Santander and Halifax have all closed for good this year
More than 500 bank branches have vanished from high streets across the UK during 2025 – including almost a dozen in Kent.
This year began with 91 banks shuttering in January, including the Halifax branch in Tonbridge. Although the pace has eased since then, there has been an average of 45 monthly closures throughout the year.
December is the only month to see no closures, as a total of 536 banks have shut down during the year.
That includes 10 banks that have vanished from high streets in Kent.
All those banks are now shut, with the most recent closures coming in October, when Halifax branches in Fokestone and Sittingbourne closed.
Of council areas in Kent, Canterbury and Swale each lost two banks, with the other closures affecting Ashford, Folkestone and Hythe, Medway, Thanet, Tonbridge and Malling, and Tunbridge Wells.
Across the UK, customers of Lloyds and Halifax, both operated by the Lloyds Banking Group, have been hit hardest, with 147 Halifax branches and 144 Lloyds branches all lost to the high street in 2025, according to LINK.
The Lloyds Banking Group announced earlier this year that it planned to shut 61 Lloyds, 61 Halifax, and 14 Bank of Scotland branches between May and March 2026.
Lloyds blamed the decision on customers shifting away from in-person banking to using mobile services.
Some 38 Bank of Scotland branches have also shut down this year, including closures that were already scheduled before the Lloyds announcement.
But customers of all the major banks have been affected, with NatWest shutting 97 branches in 2025, Santander closing 77, and Barclays losing 15 branches.
You can use our interactive map to check all the closures near you.
Kent banks closed in 2025
- Halifax Tonbridge, 39 High Street, TN9 1SQ
- Halifax Gillingham, 97-101 High Street, ME7 1BL
- Lloyds Bank Cranbrook, Woodside High Street, Cranbrook, TN17 3DJ
- TSB Sheerness, 104-106 High Street, Sheerness, ME12 1UB
- Lloyds Bank Margate, 1 The Centre, Margate, CT9 1JG
- Lloyds Bank Herne Bay, 144-146 High Street, Herne bay, CT6 5NH
- Santander Tenterden, 32 High Street, Tenterden, TN30 6AW
- Santander Herne Bay, 135 Mortimer Street, Herne Bay, CT6 5EZ
- Halifax Folkestone, 70-72 Sandgate Road, Folkestone, CT20 2AA
- Halifax Sittingbourne, 70-74 High Street, Sittingbourne, ME10 4PB
Since February 2022, a total of 2,209 banks have closed. That was when all the major banking groups, including Barclays, HSBC, Natwest, Lloyds, and Halifax, committed to a voluntary agreement to assess the impact of every closure.
The LINK initiative was established to scrutinise each closure and ensure that vulnerable customers and small businesses were not left behind in the transition to cashless payments and virtual banking.
When closures leave communities without any local bank, banking hubs or free ATMs are set up to fill the gap.
A spokesperson for LINK said: “More and more people are choosing new ways to pay, but millions of people and businesses up and down the country still rely on cash. That’s why, whenever a bank branch closes, we assess what the local community needs – which could be a free-to-use ATM, improvements at the local post office, or, in some cases, a banking hub, to manage cash locally.
“We will continue to ensure people and businesses can continue to access cash where and when they need it.”
Almost 250 banking hubs have been recommended to replace closed or closing bank branches, with 192 currently operational.
Gareth Oakley, CEO at Cash Access UK, added: “While more people are choosing to bank and pay for things digitally, there are still millions of people who rely on and prefer to use cash as well as many businesses who need to bank and access cash daily.
“At Cash Access UK we are working to deliver banking hubs, alongside deposit services, which play an important role in protecting access to cash and face-to-face services.
“Banking hubs are shared spaces on the high street where customers of all major banks can carry out regular cash transactions including cash withdrawals and deposits as well as checking balances or paying bills and where businesses can also access change-giving services.”
