POLITICIANS have spoken of their anger at Barclays bank following their decision to close the Porthmadog branch in the new year.

The High Street branch will close on Friday 25 February prompting and Porthmadog (East) councillor Nia Wyn Jeffreys said Barclays “should be ashamed”.

MP Liz Saville Roberts said she intends to challenge the decision, and MS Mabon ap Gwynfor said the decision was “a devastating blow”.

Barclays has announced the closurs of six banks in Wales in the new year. Reacting to the news Porthmadog will be one of them, Cllr Jeffreys said: “Just as our High Street shops are recovering from the Covid lockdowns we see a multinational company abandon Porthmadog.

“This week the community will be switching on our Christmas lights and our local shops will be open late - we will fight back - out-of-town and the High Street still has a lot to offer.

“Barclays should be ashamed to abandon Porthmadog and all their loyal customers here. They should reconsider their decision urgently.”

MS Mabon ap Gwynfor said: “Banks have been ripped out of towns at an astounding rate, which shows no regard for the people who have helped banks make huge profits. Barclays has already shut 63 branches this year.

“It is immoral that at a time when Barclays has seen such ballooning earnings, they are needlessly punishing rural communities by closing bank branches. According to the Financial Conduct Authority, people in Wales are most likely to have to travel large distances to get to a bank branch; 7.5 per cent of residences are more than 16km away.

“The local branch is still a valuable community resource. I sincerely hope Barclays will reconsider this devastating blow to Porthmadog.”

MP Liz Saville Roberts said: “I would like to point out the adverse impact closing this branch will have on Porthmadog and surrounding communities, to businesses and individuals. It’s not good enough for banks to continually advise that all customers should move on to online banking because we all know that not everybody has access to a reliable internet connection, particularly so in rural areas like parts of Dwyfor Meirionnydd where reliable digital connectivity is a problem.

“Many older people are also reluctant to use the internet for financial matters. As our communities recover from the effects of Covid, face-to-face services should be retained to support vulnerable people in vulnerable communities. I intend to challenge this decision which was taken without any consultation with the community.”

Explaining the decision to close Porthmadog, Barclays said the number of counter transactions has gone down, and 81 per cent of its branch customers used other ways to bank such as online and by telephone.

“Customers using other ways to do their banking has increased by 13 per cent since 2015, and in the past 12 months, 28 per cent of customers in Porthmadog have been using nearby branches. We’ve identified that only 125 customers use this branch exclusively for their banking,” a spokesperson said.

“We do not intend to make anyone redundant. Colleagues will be offered alternative roles.”