Building society branch to close (From Thurrock Gazette)

Building society branch to close

7:40am Saturday 30th June 2012 in News

NATIONWIDE is closing its Stanford-le-Hope branch at the end of August.

The building society, Britain’s biggest mutual lender, is closing 23 of its branches across the country because of profitability, levels of customer transactions, or when the lease expires on the building.

The Stanford-le-Hope branch is the only one closing in Essex, and the news has not gone down well with customers.

Keith Gill, of Second Avenue, Stanford-le-Hope, thinks it is a worrying sign for the town.

He said: “I was shocked to get a letter from Nationwide to say they are shutting down the Stanford-le-Hope branch.

“What on earth is going to happen to the town in the future? Little by little the place is turning into a ghost town.

“I have lived here since I got married in 1968 and the town has slowly, but steadily gone down hill.”

A spokesman for Nationwide said the decision to close the branch was “difficult”.

She said: “As part of an ongoing review of the Nationwide business and its distribution arrangements we have made the difficult, but carefully considered, decision to close our Stanford-le-Hope branch at 2pm on August 31.

“This decision is based on a number of factors, including profitability, the lease expiry and levels of customer transactions.

“We have written to all our customers who currently use the branch to explain the situation and provide information on other accessible branches and alternative services.”

The spokesman refused to say how many people work at the Stanford-le-Hope branch for security reasons, but did say the company is hoping to redeploy the majority of the staff.

She added: “The welfare of all of our employees is very important to us and we are doing everything we can to minimise the impact on those affected.

“We are confident we will be able to redeploy the vast majority of affected employees into neighbouring branches.”