A SMALL group of protestors gathered outside Barclays, in Barnard Castle, last week to “mourn” the closure of the last bank branch in Teesdale.
Organised by Chris Foote-Wood, who is part of a group campaigning for a banking hub in the town, the protestors sang Goodbye as the bank’s doors closed for the last time at noon, on Wednesday, September 11.
He said: “We are mourning the closing of the last bank in Teesdale. [The protest] is absolutely symbolic because the closure is a fait accompli. Now we want an all-singing, all-dancing hub with all five banks in it.”
He also complained that Teesdale, as a tourist area, lost its last 24 hour cash machine. Fellow protestor Jane Hackworth-Young, a customer for 60, years said: “Backhouse Bank became Barclays.
“It funded the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) and it will celebrate its bicentenary next year – they have missed out on such an opportunity.”
Ms Hackworth-Young’s great-great grandfather, timothy Hackworth, was the first superintendent of the historic railway line.
Kathy Burrage, a client for the past 35 years, described the closure as devastating.
She added: “I have been in the dale for 35 years and have been using the Middleton branch and then the Barney branch. It is really sad not to have face-to-face banking support and the use of the 24 hour bank machine.”
