
UPDATE 11th SEPTEMBER 2024: A temporary Banking Hub is currently being established in Ebenezer Church, Abertillery. It is due to open this month. The Community Council supports this hub, as it continues seeking out a location for a permanent Banking Hub.
High Street banking is set to return to Abertillery for the first time since Barclays Bank announced the closure of the town's last branch in February 2019. The announcement follows painstaking work by Abertillery and Llanhilleth Community Council.
LINK – which operates the UK’s inter-bank payment system – has announced that Abertillery has been recommended as a location for a new Bank Hub.
Barrie Page, Community Councillor for Llanhilleth, noted that LINK had undertaken to carry out an independent assessment of a community’s banking needs when formally requested to do so.
"The local Brynithel Activity Group asked me to propose that the community council should apply to LINK to review whether the area should have a ‘Bank Hub' to provide counter services for the major banks and dedicated rooms where customers can access the support of community bankers from their own bank," said Barrie. "My fellow-community council members noted that there were no bank branches left in the area and the closure of Post Offices in Brynithel and Six Bells had left Abertillery Post Office as the only permanent location where even basic paying-in services were available. I was keen that such a review should consider all communities in the community council area."
Working with Abertillery and Llanhilleth Community Council Deputy Clerk Steve Edwards, Barrie submitted a detailed formal request for a review by LINK of local community banking needs throughout the community council area. LINK visited the community in order to gain a more detailed understanding of the local circumstances and has now announced that Abertillery has been recommended as a location for a new Bank Hub.
Banks supporting local community Bank Hubs include Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest Group, Santander, Virgin Money, Danske Bank and TSB. Services will include cash access, deposit and basic banking services.