Featherstone’s last bank prepares to close

Although the number of homes in Featherstone, near Wakefield, is expected to increase, the town’s last bank is preparing to close.

Although campaigners fought to keep Yorkshire Bank’s branch at Station Lane open, the bank has confirmed the foreclosure will go ahead.

Hundred’s of local people signed a petition against the closure, which was announced as part of Yorkshire Bank’s half-year results in March, claiming that the bank should remain open due to the regeneration of other parts of Fetherstone.

Yorkshire Bank decided to close the Featherstone branch because it was one of the 19 “under-performing.”

However, no jobs were axed as staff were redeployed to other sites. Yorkshire Bank’s branches are also closing in Driffield, East Yorkshire, Elland near Halifax, and a branch in Barnsley.

Helen Dawson, who launched a petition signed by more than 400 people, told the C&P Express: “The bank has said all along that no matter what the community does, they are adamant that it was closing.

“What we’ve been saying is, how can they make a decision about closing the branch without looking into the regeneration that is going on in the area?

“We are going to have extra people coming into the town and they are going to need things like an additional supermarket and a bank.”

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