Virgin Money (Yorkshire Bank) to close

Yorkshire Bank, recently re-branded as Virgin Money, is to close its Macclesfield branch in the new year.

Yorkshire Bank came to Macclesfield in the 1970’s, being first established on the corner of Church Street and Market Place, before moving to its current position at 10-12 Market Place.

Virgin Money say they will be closing 20% of its store network, including Macclesfield, as it “responds to the long-term shift in customers choosing to bank online.”

Earlier this year Clydesdale, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money merged, and all branches were re-branded under the Virgin Money name.

Fergus Murphy, group customer experience director at Virgin Money said: “As our customers change the way they want to bank with us and conduct fewer transactions in-store, we must continue to evolve the role of our stores into places where we showcase our products and bring our digital services to life.”

The number of customers using bank branches for day-to-day transactions has been on a downward trajectory across the UK banking industry for a number of years, and this has been further accelerated by the pandemic.

ilovemacc comment: When I wrote many years ago that out-of-town shopping malls must eventually lead to the demise of the traditional high street – and that the elderly, less mobile/affluent members of society would suffer – the internet hadn’t even been conceived.

The arrival of the internet has merely served to accelerate the demise and make life increasingly difficult for those unable to travel or without the necessary internet skills and access.