On 26th February, Ellie took part in a Westminster Hall debate, lead by Ian Lavery MP: That this House has considered high street bank closures and banking hubs.
Ellie interjected: In my constituency of North Herefordshire, we have a banking hub opening in Leominster, now that Lloyds bank has left. However, in Kington, which does not have a bus service to Leominster, there is a fantastic post office that could be a banking hub, but it has been told that it does not fit the criteria. I do not understand why. Does the hon. Member agree that we need to ask the Government to make sure that these criteria are reassessed, because banking, especially in remote areas, is such an important function for businesses and individuals. We cannot continue with the system as is.
On the matter of the Leominster banking hub, Ellie’s team has been liaising with Cash Access UK to understand and have input into the process of bringing a Banking Hub to Leominster. A few points of update:
Process/ timeline
- Lloyds is closing in November 2025
- Link assessment has awarded Leominster a Hub, features below
- Aim is to have banking hub open by November 2025
- Stage one = looking for a property, ideally in central Leominster
- Stage two = planning
- Stage three = fitting and opening
- Drop-in event planned for April for constituents
- Will have at least one other drop-in before opening
- Advertising in local press/ community letters
Features
- Cash machine
- Deposit capacity for small businesses
- Fully DDA compliant, wide doors, wheelchair ramps
- Will be ground floor only, with seating
- Screen for two tellers, classic bank style
- The main 5 or 6 banks will be represented on a rolling basis
- Possibility of Saturday opening
- Cross-over banking service, so any customer can do basic banking all days of the week; only limited to F2F appointments one day a week when their bank is in