NatWest is closing its High Street branch following other big banks which have already pulled out of High Barnet

Barnet town centre is to lose one of its four remaining banks – and customers feared another might be going as well – as the big banks announced another massive round of branch closures.

NatWest is to close its branch at 120 High Street on Monday May 11 this year, one of 32 closures to take effect by 2027.

But despite Santander announcing 44 branch closures across the UK, the bank’s Barnet customers were relieved to see that their branch in the High Street is not on the closure list.

The closure notice on NatWest’s front door says the branch will be closing at 12noon on May 11.

Customers are advised that the nearest NatWest branch will be at 786 High Road, North Finchley, and that cash withdrawals and deposits into bank accounts can be made at Barnet Post Office.

NatWest closed its Borehamwood branch in 2022 followed by Potters Bar the following year.

Barnet’s Santander branch – which was recently refurbished – was feared to be at possible risk because the Borehamwood and Finchley branches both closed last year.

Halifax closed its Barnet branch in 2024, and alterations are being made to the ground floor of the building which is to become a Lemoge health and beauty clinic.

An application has been made to convert the upper floors of the former Halifax building into four self-contained flats.

The loss of Halifax and now NatWest follows in the wake of other closures – HSBC closed in 2021 and the building now a Gail’s Bakery, and the former TSB branch has become a Costa coffee shop.

The one High Street bank which has made a promise to retain its town centre branches is Nationwide which gave a pledge in November that it would keep everyone of its 696 Nationwide and Virgin Money branches open until at least 2030.