Following last month’s announcement of the planned closure of Santander in Colwyn Bay, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has met with the financial services company and urged them to reconsider their decision.

With numerous banks having closed their doors in Clwyd West in recent years, Darren was disappointed to learn in March that Santander are following suit.

They are closing four branches in North Wales. As well as Colwyn Bay, they also plan to close their branches in Caernarfon, Holywell and Holyhead. 

 At Friday’s meeting with company managers, Darren stressed that the area is a big urban population with elderly residents and urged them to reconsider their decision, especially given the recent decision by HSBC to close its branch in the town in recent months.

Speaking after the meeting, Darren said:

“The closure of this branch will be a huge loss to the local community and will particularly impact elderly and more vulnerable residents. I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet with Santander to emphasis this point and ask them to reconsider.

“However, they were adamant that given that 95% of users of Colwyn Bay branch use online banking and branches in Llandudno/Bangor have higher footfall, their decision is the right one.

“Colwyn Bay has lost several banks in recent years and whilst I appreciate that more people are now banking online, there are people who still like to bank in person.

“I was therefore pleased to hear that Santander’s plans include introducing a community banker who will be available in the town once a week. Locations have not yet been decided, but they have promised to let me know once they are and I will communicate this with residents.

“I was also pleased to hear that they will be contacting all customers who are elderly, vulnerable or frequent visitors by the end of May to explain what services are available to them, and that they are working to retain staff where possible.

“As well as putting forward residents’ concerns regarding the closure during the meeting, I also questioned them over the future of the building as residents and businesses are understandably worried about what will happen to it following the closure.  I was told that a decision has not been made as yet and that they will update me in due course.”

The Colwyn Bay branch will close on July 24th 2025.  

ENDS