Lloyds to Close 95 More UK Branches as Customers Switch to Online Banking

London, February 12, 2026 – Lloyds Banking Group has announced it will close another 95 high-street branches across the UK between May 2026 and March 2027. The latest round of closures – part of continuing branch cuts at Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland outlets – includes 53 Lloyds Bank branches, 31 Halifax branches and 11 Bank of Scotland sites.

In announcing the plan, the lender said all affected staff would be offered roles at other branches or in different parts of the business, and no jobs would be lost. After these cuts, Lloyds says its combined network will shrink from about 932 branches today to roughly 610 branches by spring 2027.

These closures follow previous rounds of cuts. In January 2025 Lloyds revealed plans to shut 136 branches (61 Lloyds, 61 Halifax, 14 Bank of Scotland) between May 2025 and March 2026. Earlier, in mid-2024 it announced dozens of closures (some 53 branches) due by early 2025. In total, UK sources report that Lloyds will have closed around 218 branches in 2025 and a further 71 in 2026. (After all announced closures, Lloyds Group’s network will be down to about 756 branches by end-March 2026 and roughly 610 by end-March 2027.)

Lloyds says the cuts reflect customers’ move towards digital banking. The bank noted that in-branch transactions are plunging – it handled 10 million fewer branch transactions in 2024 than in 2023 – and that over 20 million customers use its mobile app for everyday banking. A company spokeswoman said customers now have “more choice and flexibility than ever” to bank via apps, the Post Office, new local banking hubs or its network of “community bankers” in towns and libraries.

Lloyds stressed that the closures are driven by changing customer preferences and that no jobs would be lost, as colleagues in closing branches would be redeployed elsewhere.

The announcement drew angry reactions from unions, consumer groups and local leaders. Unite – the union for bank workers – criticised the cuts as a “complete betrayal of the communities and staff who have long supported this highly profitable business”. Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, warned that banks were “leaving people behind” by forcing customers online to boost profits. Unite official Rob MacGregor echoed this view, urging the industry to halt its “endless branch closure programmes” and defend face-to-face banking for vulnerable customers.

Consumer group Which? has also lamented the wave of closures, noting that over 6,000 UK branches have shut since 2015 – about 60% of the network that existed a decade ago – and warned of “disastrous” effects on rural communities.

Local communities have mobilised to resist the cuts. In Penzance (Cornwall), MP Andrew George convened a public meeting and launched a petition after Lloyds announced the town’s branch would shut in January 2026. George said Lloyds had “opted to declare war on Penzance” and was “unconcerned about the damage this will inflict on our town” – noting that over 1,000 of the constituency’s 33,000 Lloyds customers depend on the Penzance branch, and that the nearest alternative would be nearly 40 miles away.

A campaign group is now planning protests and parliamentary questions to try to reverse the decision. Similar anger has been voiced elsewhere – for example, Wiltshire councillors decried the bank’s plan to end its mobile branch service as a “betrayal” of elderly and rural residents who rely on in-person banking.

Lloyds’s latest cuts come amid a sector‑wide shift. All the major UK banks have been trimming their branch networks as customers migrate online. UK Finance, the banks’ trade body, says changing habits mean firms must make “difficult decisions” about branch provision. In 2024 NatWest announced it would shut about 105 branches, Santander around 95, Barclays and TSB also several each, while Lloyds and its affiliates account for dozens more closures.

Some competitors are bucking the trend – for instance HSBC has pledged no UK branch closures through 2027 and Nationwide Building Society has promised to keep all outlets open until at least 2030.

Lloyds says it is responding to customers’ needs. In a statement it noted that it now offers 24/7 digital and telephone services, along with community bankers and more than 30,000 Post Office and PayPoint outlets for cash and basic transactions. The bank argues this gives customers “the freedom to bank in the way that works for them”. But critics say the pace of closures risks creating banking deserts, especially for the elderly and disabled.

Consumer and community campaigners are urging the new government to back solutions – such as new banking hubs and protections for access to cash – to ensure that vulnerable customers are not left stranded without local services.

Sources: Lloyds Banking Group (official statements); Reuters, The Guardian, Sky News, City A.M., local UK media reports