Investigation ongoing following banking hub snub

A DECISION of a national banking services provider to not open a hub in Henley has being called into question.

Henley was turned down by Cash Access UK and LINK after applying to have a hub set up as the town has just one remaining branch, Nationwide in Market Place.

The council has been campaigning since 2023 for a banking hub to serve residents who can’t access internet services as five branches in the town have closed since 2019.

In the town centre there are three points where residents can withdraw cash, at Sainsbury’s and inside WHSmith in Bell Street and the Post Office in Reading Road. Outside of the town centre, there are cash machines at the Shell petrol station and Tesco in Reading Road and at the “Top Shops” in Greys Road.

Henley MP Freddie van Mierlo met with councillors in May to call for better banking facilities, including a LINK banking hub.

LINK is the UK’s cash machine network and has opened hubs where customers of all the main banks can withdraw and deposit cash, make bill payments and carry out regular banking transactions. These hubs are operated by post office staff.

In 2023, town centre manager Paul Carey told a council meeting that the possibility of getting a hub had been investigated but the likelihood of it happening was low.

At a meeting of the town council on Tuesday last week, Paul Harrison, of Sonning Common, said he understood that towns with similar existing banking provisions to Henley had been approved for hubs.

He said: “I sent to Councillor Rory Hunt some pictures of a banking hub in Brixham, where they had a post office which had turned into a banking hub that went very well.

“In Warwick, they now have a new banking hub, even though they have a Coventry Building Society there. I’m originally from that area and I have spoken to the manager of the building society, they have no intention of going.”

Town clerk Sheridan Jacklin-Edward said that the banking hub providers had explained why Marlow, which already had a Nationwide Building Society open four days a week and a NatWest open five days a week, was approved for a banking hub while Henley wasn’t.

He said: “They explained to us that part of the reason was down to the number of dates that the Nationwide was open.

“We have been investigating it further and unfortunately the situation is a little more complex, although we are pleased to see that there are now business banking deposit facilities in WHSmith but it is, I think, still far from ideal and still something that the council is pursuing.”