Santander bank staff to be based at community centre Libanus Lifestyle

Bank Santander is closing its Blackwood branch on June 23, but customers will still have face-to-face access to staff at community hub Libanus Lifestyle, it has been announced.

Earlier this year the branch was named in a list of 95 closures by the Spanish bank – while its Caerphilly branch will continue to operate with reduced hours.

‘Community Bankers’ from Santander will be available to help customers at Libanus Lifestyle Centre, Libanus Road, Blackwood, every Thursday between 9.30am and 4pm starting on June 19.

Like other banks which run similar community hubs, there will be no cash service, but staff will be able to help people with other banking needs.

Barclays is already based at Libanus Lifestyle after it closed its Blackwood outlet in March last year. Both banks are making a financial contribution towards the running costs of the not-for-profit community base.

Karen James, from Libanus Lifestyle, said: “We are over the moon that Santander will join us and we will look after their staff as we do Barclays and make customers welcome.

“As always, we are very grateful for the support we receive from our local councillors Andrew Farina-Childs and Nigel Dix, and also deputy council leader Jamie Pritchard.”

Cllr Dix said: “Libanus Lifestyle has worked hard to ensure that the people of Blackwood and surrounding areas have access to banking facilities and we all appreciate Karen and her team’s hard work and commitment to the community.”

Fellow Blackwood councillor Andrew Farina-Childs said he hoped the new hub would be as well-used and as successful as the Barclays one.

Cllr Pritchard was also full of praise and said: “I think Libanus Lifestyle should be thanked for their efforts to again step in when banks have left the high street.

“It is pleasing to see community organisations like Libanus Lifestyle adopting a positive approach to difficult situations. Banking closures are all too common these days, but we as a council have also worked to secure some of our library spaces to support customers.”

The High Street Santander branch in Blackwood will close its doors for good on June 23, while the Caerphilly branch will have its hours reduced, opening only on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9.30am to 3pm, from June 30.

At the time the closures were announced, a bank spokesperson said the decision to shut branches and reduce the hours of others was down to changing customer behaviour.

In a statement they said: “As a business, we must move with customers and balance our investment across all the places where we interact with customers, to deliver the very best for them now and in the future.

“Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers.”

Santander is the latest in a long line of national banks closing its branches. Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, and Lloyds have all closed outlets across Caerphilly County Borough in recent years.