Rutland will become first county in England not to have a high street bank when HSBC shuts doors in Oakham

• e-mail

Rutland will become the first county in England not to have a high street bank when HSBC shuts the doors of its Oakham branch in June.

The county, the smallest in England with a population of below one million, has seen a number of branch closures in recent years.

Uppingham, famous for its boarding school, lost its last bank when Barclays closed its branch in April 2019.

Oakham, the county's main town, has already seen NatWest, Lloyds and Santander pull out.

The two remaining banks – Barclays and HSBC – will shut in the next four months as a result of wider branch closure programmes announced this year.

Sign of the times: Rutland will become the first county in England not to have a high street bank when HSBC shuts the doors of its Oakham branch in June

Between them, the big banks have said they will shut more than 100 outlets in the coming months as both cash and branch usage declines. Cash machine operator Link has recommended that a new banking hub be located in Oakham, paid for by all the big banks. This community bank would allow local businesses and residents to use it to deposit cash, make withdrawals and see a representative from their own bank on specific days.

But as of yet, there is no agreed timetable for the hub to be installed – the responsibility of organisation Cash Access UK.

There is a fear among locals that HSBC will close before the hub is up and running.

So far, of 38 hubs proposed by Link, only four are open for business. John Howells, Link chief executive, agrees that the Oakham hub must be opened quickly.

'Any gap in service when the last branch closes is undesirable,' he says.

Only Melton Mowbray among the country's banks and building societies will have a branch in Oakham when HSBC goes from the town.

The county will still be home to 13 free-to-use cash machines and nine post offices.