Kington’s second application and appeal for a bank hub have been rejected

The town’s postmaster Tim Allen and his wife Caroline have been lobbying for a bank hub to be set up at the RidgeBank Art Space at 1 High Street.

Tim told members of the town council recently that the appeal had been rejected, which was extremely disappointing because of the quality of the rejection case and the effort that had been put into the application.

“It’s a serious issue not just for a town like Kington but for all of the eight Marches towns. I have looked into it and they all have an average population of about 2,500 people but they serve a lot more people than that, as is the case in Kington

“I am probably going to park it for now. It may be something we can move on to our politicians and Cash Access UK. But I think it is probably dead in the water for the moment until we put some more thought into it.”

Tim had said the hub could be managed by him and it would be permanently staffed Monday to Friday by post office employees and employees from the five major banks on a rota basis, so customers could speak face-to-face with someone from their bank.

The hubs are funded by the nine major banks as a low cost banking solution. The bank hub would be offering a ‘contemporary version’ of a traditional bank and it would be visited by representatives of various banks to discuss personal banking matters with customers.

Many people signed a petition at Kington Post Office which said with certainty that Kington Ward is not just a town and immediate villages of 3,650 residents; it serves as an economic, social, educational and medical hub for over 11,000 people from 60 surrounding communities. 

Kington has the perfect location for a bank hub – at the Ridgebank , which was formerly The Kington and Radnorshire Bank established in 1808 as part of the North and South Wales Bank amalgamated with Midland Bank in 1908.

Meanwhile, Mr Allen said the Post Office will continue hosting pop up bank sessions with HSBC and they may approach other banks too.