Submitted by daniel on Wed, 19/03/2025 - 15:27 Picture Image Description The Spanish-owned banking giant confirmed that it would be closing more than a fifth (95) of its 444 high street branches nationwide from June 2025, with 750 jobs at risk. Among them, 10 of the branches closing will be in the capital, with five of them confirmed in south London including Eltham, Sidcup and Croydon. All the south London Santander branches closing this year: Croydon - 128 North End, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 1UE - June 16, 2025 Brixton - 498 Brixton Road, Brixton, London, SW9 8EX - August 11, 2025 Eltham - 73 Eltham High Street, Eltham, London, SE9 1UW - June 23, 2025 Sidcup - 39 Sidcup High Street, Sidcup, Kent, DA14 6ED - August 11, 2025 Surrey Quays - Unit 34 Surrey Quays Rtl. Cen., Redriff Road, Surrey Quays, London, SE16 7NB - November 10, 2025 In addition, Santander also confirmed that it would be cutting hours for 36 more branches nationwide, along with changes to 18 of its branches to be counter-free to “better serve the changing needs” of its customers. Among the branches going counter-free are Streatham and Orpington in south London and Gravesend in North Kent, which will be operating counter-free from August. All the south London Santander branches going counter-free: Streatham - 57 Streatham High Rd, Streatham, London, SW16 1PJ - counter-fre from June 30, 2025. Gravesend - 4 King Street, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 2HH - August 4, 2025 Orpington - 225 High Street, Orpington, Kent, BR6 0NP - August 11, 2025 Following the closures, Santander will be left with 349 branches, which will include 290 full-service sites as well as five so-called work cafes. The changes will put 750 jobs at risk - more than 4 percent of its 18,000 UK workforce – if the plans get the go ahead after consultations with unions, the bank said. The majority of the planned redundancies are related to the branch closures, but about 12 percent of the cuts are because of the reduced-hour proposals. Santander said the changes are being made as customers increasingly switch to online banking, with it citing a 63 percent surge in digital transactions since 2019. A Santander UK spokesman said: “As customer behaviour changes, we are ensuring that our branches remain fit for the future. “Our new combination of full-service branches, alongside work cafes, counter-free branches and reduced hours branches, aims to provide the right balance between digital banking and face-to-face money management and guidance.” He 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.” Santander said that from June 30, the majority of the reduced-hours branches will be open just three days a week – either Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.30am to 3pm, or Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.30am to 3pm and Saturdays from 9.30am to 12.30pm. It will change 18 sites to be counter-free from June 16, but stressed they will also be manned by staff to offer face-to-face support, with an average of eight workers in these branches. The group will be recruiting 95 new “community bankers” in the locations where it is shutting branches and hopes to redeploy some of the affected workers into these jobs. They will visit local communities on a weekly basis, based in centres such as libraries and community halls. Web Link The south London Santander branches set to close or go counter-free - This is L… This is Local London