Hailsham Town Council is delighted to announce that the new Hailsham Banking Hub is now open, following the success of the Council’s endeavours to be awarded a franchise amidst competition from other interested parties.
This essential community facility has initially opened as an interim Banking Hub at the 10 High Street Post Office, until such time as permanent premises in the town centre have been secured.
Similar to a traditional banking branch, Banking Hubs are centrally located spaces with professional, face to face counter services provided by the major high street bank. The Town Council, as the local lead in its delivery, was instrumental in the campaign to establish a Banking Hub in Hailsham over the past few years, following the recent closure of local bank branches and the closure of Lloyds and Halifax this March.
The new hub is being delivered by Cash Access UK, and any customer can find their nearest free to use cash access point (including ATMs, Post Offices and Banking Hubs) via the LINK Cash Locator App and website: https://www.link.co.uk/cash-locator.
The Hailsham Banking Hub is the first banking hub to open in East Sussex, bringing the total number of hubs open across the country to 130.
Gareth Oakley, CEO at Cash Access UK: “I’m delighted to announce that we have opened the temporary banking hub in Hailsham. We’re very grateful that the Post Office has provided us with this temporary space, and we are looking forward to sharing positive news about the hub’s permanent location soon.”
The Hailsham Banking Hub operates from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (including lunch times). The community banking representation rota is as follows:
Residents, businesses and community organisations are encouraged to use the interim Banking Hub in the same way as their own bank, including services such as cash withdrawals, deposits, opening an account, paying in cheques and financial advice. The new hub will complement existing banking services for individuals and businesses already provided in-branch at the High Street Post Office, which include normal bank transactions and business deposits.
Operating on an interim basis from the town centre Post Office, which the Town Council runs and operates as franchisee, the announcement of the opening of the Hailsham Banking Hub is excellent news for the town and a welcome relief to residents and local businesses.
“We are delighted that an interim Banking Hub has now been established in Hailsham, which will complement the provision of our local post office,” said Cllr Mary Laxton, Chair of the Post Office Sub-Committee. “The fact that such an essential service is now being delivered locally is excellent news for many residents and will be highly beneficial to our community.”
“Since June 2015, around 6,000 bank branches have closed throughout the UK and many banks tell us that changes in customer behaviour have been the driving force and principal reason for this. An increasing number of people bank online and consequently make far fewer visits to branches. Whilst we fully understand the considerable uptake in the use of online banking in recent years, there are still people, particularly the elderly, who like to visit their branches and bank in person.”
“This is where the Hailsham Banking Hub can help considerably. Add to that the town centre Post Office, where the Banking Hub will be housed until such time as permanent premises are found.”
Cllr Laxton added: “The Town Council’s Post Office Sub-Committee has worked hard to deliver banking services that are accessible to individual and business banking customers. Our commitment to delivering an interim Banking Hub at the town centre Post Office means that we can help to re-establish complete banking services in Hailsham whilst we work with Cash Access UK to secure permanent premises.”
“The fact that we were awarded the franchise for a Banking Hub here in Hailsham is a victory for our town and is testament to the huge amount of work carried out by the Post Office Sub-Committee, including the drafting of business plans and numerous interviews along the way. We have invested a considerable amount of time towards the whole process from day one.”
Terry Hall, Communications Officer
Hailsham Town Council, Market Street, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 2AE
Telephone: 01323 841702 | Email: terry.hall@hailsham-tc.gov.uk