The UK’s smallest city will soon be without a bank.
The Lloyds branch in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, is set to shut its doors for the final time on 27 November.
It will also mean the city loses its only free-to-use ATM, said Stephen Crabb, the Tory MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire.
He has written to the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, Charlie Nunn, to consider alternative banking options for members of the community.
“From day one I have been in touch with Lloyds on behalf of the community, and with LINK, to talk through the situation in St Davids and look for options for local residents,” Mr Crabb said.
The politician wrote in his letter that the closure had raised “significant concerns about the loss of important financial services in rural, isolated communities”.
He asked for a mobile banking van to be considered for the city which would, he argued, “enable people to transition to a new way of banking”.
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The deputy mayor of St Davids, Bira Sehmi, told Sky News that the closure of the bank would be a “great loss”.
“It’s going to affect the local community and also the people coming here on holidays, for example,” he said.
“Local businesses, they deal with tourism, and so it’s going to have a detrimental effect.”
Mr Sehmi claimed the decision was made “without really consulting the local community”.
“We rely on people coming here and we get a lot of people here in a year. People come because of the cathedral and because of the coastline,” he added.
St Asaph in Flintshire, which was made a city in 2012, lost its last bank in 2015.
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Transactions at the St Davids Lloyds branch fell by more than 65% between 2018 and 2023, according to the bank.
A spokesperson for Lloyds said: “As many customers now choose to bank online or through their mobile app, visits to our St Davids branch have fallen over recent years.
“The local Post Office offers everyday banking and our customers can also bank online, over the phone and through mobile banking.”
