IT WAS the end of an era last week as banking giant Santander closed its Ross-on-Wye branch – leaving only one bank left standing in the town.

And the Link organisation, which administers banking hubs in communities when there are no alternatives, have confirmed that based on existing cash provision provided by the Nationwide, Post Office and ATMs, has decided not to recommend Ross for a banking hub.

The Santander branch in Ross, originally the Abbey National until the Spanish banking group acquired the former building society and brought it in under its corporate umbrella in January 2010, was listed for closure on March 19 this year when staff themselves only found out that it was closing when they arrived at work that day.

With Santander pulling out of Ross, it leaves the town with only one remaining banking organisation left - Nationwide. The two building societies in Ross, the Coventry and the Principality are not part of the main national network of banking services.

A spokesperson for Santander said that account holders in Ross will be assisted by ‘community bankers’ who will visit Ross Library, on a Tuesday.

The spokesperson added: “Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers.

“However, we believe that the introduction of our new community bankers and the exciting plans we have for our remaining network of branches and work cafés, alongside the rapid and innovative improvements to our mobile banking app, will provide the right balance of digital banking and human interaction when required.”

Link completed an assessment of Ross on the same day Santander indicated the town centre branch was closing to see if there is a gap in cash access services and where people and businesses would most be affected by any gap identified.

A Link spokesperson pointed out that when the organisation assesses a town to see if it’s suitable for having a banking hub, it makes its assessment on the ability of people gaining access to cash, and not the traditional form of banking as some people often think applies.

The spokesperson added: "We carry out assessments when a bank branch closes or if people in the local community ask us to, and we publish the outcome of our assessment and any recommendations we make for new cash access services.

“As part this process, we also welcome information from communities which we will review in detail.

“We visited Ross-on-Wye as part of our assessment to understand the cash access needs locally.

“In addition to several free to use cash machines, there is a Post Office and a branch of Nationwide which act as convenient options for many people and businesses to manage their cash.

“We are therefore satisfied that the community continues to have good access to cash."

Ross saw the closure of Lloyds Bank in December, last year having already lost the NatWest Bank in June 2018, Barclays Bank in August 2021, the TSB in June 2022 and HSBC in June 2023.