Burgess Hill bank to close: all you need to know

TSB in Church Walk, Burgess Hill, is one of 12 branches that will be closing in the South East during 2020.

Worthing’s branch is also set to close. Read more here: Worthing bank set to close next year

A spokesman for TSB said: “Closing branches is always a difficult decision with changes impacting people and communities.

“To help address this, TSB is launching a range of new initiatives to help impacted customers with the transition.”

There are three partners impacted in Burgess Hil, the spokesman said, however TSB said it would be working with these partners to try to find them alternative roles within TSB.

Explaining the decision to close the branches, the spokesman said changing customer behaviour had made sustaining its large network of branches difficult.

A ‘significant number’ of TSB branches have low customer numbers and transactions are decreasing year on year, the spokesman said.

In the last two years alone, TSB has seen branch transactions drop by 17 per cent as customers increasingly choose to bank online or through telephony, said the spokesman. As a result, nearly half of TSB’s branches are run at a loss.

Once the branches close, TSB will still have 41 branches in the South East region, according to the spokesman, and 65 per cent of the UK will live within four miles of a TSB branch.

Customers will still be able to bank with TSB in multiple ways, such as through telephony and online channels, the spokesman said.

In addition, TSB customers will be able to perform many banking tasks at their local Post Office.

Robin Bulloch, customer banking director at TSB, said: “We have made the difficult decision to close some of our quieter branches and will fully support customers through this transition.

“We realise this is difficult news for our branch partners and will do everything to support those affected to redeploy as many people as we can to other roles and keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum.”