TSB starts Wick pop-up service six weeks after town centre closure
TSB has opened a pop-up banking service in Wick – just six weeks after shutting its long-established branch in the town centre.
The new service started on Wednesday in the Pulteney Centre in Huddart Street and will be available every Wednesday between 9.30am and 4.30pm. It is one of 19 pop-ups in Scotland and 43 across the UK as whole.
The TSB premises in Wick town centre closed on March 16 after a branch review. At the time, TSB said: "We’ve looked carefully at our Wick branch at 74 High Street and how it is used, and we’ve taken the decision to close it. The way customers bank with us is rapidly evolving with the vast majority of everyday transactions now being done digitally."
The bank added that customers could still use the Thurso branch.
The first 18 TSB pop-ups are starting in April, with the others to follow by summer. Most are based in locations where it takes customers longer than 20 minutes to travel to their nearest TSB branch.
The bank has introduced 100 mobile adviser roles to provide the new face-to-face service. Locations for pop-ups will include town halls, libraries and community centres.
Closure of the Wick branch was announced last September as part of a three-year strategy. A total of 73 branches across Scotland were earmarked for closure at the time.
A spokesman for TSB said this week that the Pulteney Centre pop-up would be ongoing, describing it as "a weekly service for the local community".
Asked why TSB felt it needed a physical presence in the town so soon after closing the High Street branch, the spokesman said: "When we announced the closures last year, it was always part of our plans to launch this service in Wick.
"We know accessing banking services remains important to many customers and these pop-up services will support our customers in parts of the country where it takes longer to get to a branch."
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