'End of an era' for St Annes as last remaining bank closes its doors
The seaside town lost its Halifax and NatWest branches last year.
A Fylde town will lose its last remaining bank today, as Santander closes its doors for the final time.
Last year, the Spanish-owned banking giant confirmed its branches in Cleveleys and St Annes would be among a raft of banks set to close.
The Cleveleys branch on Victoria Road West closed in June 2025, with the St Annes site, on St Annes Road, officially exiting the town at 3.00pm today (March 19).
After Santander informed LINK - the UK’s main ATM network - about the branch closures, LINK recommended a new banking hub for St Annes to protect the town’s access to cash, after Halifax and NatWest closed their doors last year.
The new, permanent banking hub is scheduled to open at the former NatWest building, on St Annes Road West, in April.
Until then, a temporary hub has launched at The Drive Methodist Church, on Clifton Drive. Open from March 4 until mid-April, the hub allows residents to deposit and withdraw cash, as well as allowing businesses to access change.
Santander confirmed that from March 27, a Santander Community Banker will be available at the hub every Friday.
A spokesperson for Santander UK, said: “In response to a continuing and sizeable shift towards customers using digital banking, we are making changes to our branches to better support our customers.
“We will continue to invest in both our branch network - comprising of banking hubs, branches, Santander Locals, and our increasingly popular Work Cafés – as well as our digital banking services, so we can be there to support our customers however they choose to bank with us.”
The weekly schedule for bank representatives at the banking hub is as follows:
- Monday: Barclays
- Tuesday: Halifax
- Wednesday: NatWest
- Thursday: HSBC
- Friday: Santander (from March 27)
According to Santander’s assessment of the St Annes site, 94% of its customers use a variety of ways to their banking with 72% using Online, Mobile or Telephone Banking services.
St Annes town mayor, Cllr Karen Harrison, said: "On behalf of St Annes Town Council, I welcome the opening of the new Banking Hub in its temporary location.
"Officers and councillors worked hard to get assurances from Cash Access UK that the hub would be in place before the Santander branch closed and I thank them for their efforts.
"We look forward to the hub moving to its permanent location in part of the former NatWest Bank building in the Square in a few weeks.
"It is a sad day for many that the last bank branch in St Annes is closing and, in many ways the end of an era.
“But with the rise of online banking we must move with the times and for those that require face-to-face banking services I am sure the Hub will quickly become a focus for the community."
The nearest Santander for residents will now be the Blackpool bank on Church Street.