SANTANDER has taken steps to explain why it has decided to close down its bank branch in St Austell town centre in the summer.

The banking giant says customers are choosing to use mobile, online and telephone banking more and branches less.

The bank has undertaken a review which looked at the way its St Austell customers were banking.

The review also looked at the proximity of other Santander branches and the availability of other banking services in the town.

Santander says that from its review it can see that 92 per cent of its St Austell branch customers already use a variety of methods to do their banking, with 71 per cent having used its online, mobile or telephone banking services in the second half of 2024.

A quarter of the customers are said to also use another Santander branch, with the closest branches being in Truro, around 14 miles away, and Liskeard, more than 23 miles away.

A total of 65 regular personal customers making transactions are said to use only the St Austell branch, along with one regular business customer.

The bank is due to close at 3pm on July 8. More than 90 other Santander branches are also closing this year.