Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it will be closing dozens of high street banking branches across the UK.
As the group, which owns Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, accelerates its plans to cut costs and digitise banking, a total of 136 branches nationwide are set to close permanently between May of this year and March 2026 – with 61 Lloyds branches, 61 Halifax, and 14 Bank of Scotland branches affected.
Lloyds says its decision to shut the high street branches is due to customers shifting away from banking in-person, and preferring to use mobile services instead.
The announcement that 136 branches are set to close also comes weeks after Lloyds decided to allow customers of either Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland to use the sites across any of its brands for in-person banking.
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The six Greater Manchester branches set to close before May 2026 are:
Lloyds
Farnworth, Bolton
Bury
Newton Heath
Moston
Halifax
Bolton
Walkden
The full list of Lloyds and Halifax bank branches set to close in Greater Manchester has been released / Credit: Unsplash | PickPik
Some of the other North West branches of both Lloyds and Halifax listed to be closing include a number in major Lancashire towns such as Blackpool, Southport, and St Annes, as well as some in Cheshire like Wilmslow and Northwich, and some in Merseyside and on the Wirral.
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Lloyds said that transactions across these particular branches fell by an average of 48% over the past five years, with customers using app payments more frequently.
“Over 20 million customers are using our apps for on-demand access to their money, and customers have more choice and flexibility than ever for their day-to-day banking,” a spokesperson for Lloyds Banking Group said as the closure announcement was made.
“Alongside our apps, customers can also use telephone banking, visit a community banker or use any Lloyds, Halifax, or Bank of Scotland branch.
High School Musical at Lowry, Salford – a night spent reliving our childhood | Review
Amy Williams
What a night spent reliving our childhood.
Now, I don’t want to exaggerate or seem biased, considering this is one of my favourite film trilogies of all time, but this could be the best stage show I’ve seen in a long while.
We all know how High School Musical goes, right? Set at East High, we follow Troy and Gabriella (the star basketball player, and the geeky new girl) who meet over New Year, and then become ‘star-crossed lovers’ when back at school as they’re part of two different ‘cliques’.
The duo mess with the ‘Status Quo’ when they audition for the school musical. But will they stick to what they know? Or become stars of the stage? I’m sure you know the ending.
High School Musical is currently on stage at Lowry, Salford / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
From the costumes and the characters, to the memorable songs (there’s actually 52 songs in this production, including a mega mix at the end), they’ve kept right to the script of the films – and that’s exactly what we wanted to see.
Of course, the biggest throwback of them all is Kaycee Stroh – who originally featured as Martha Cox in the film trilogy – taking the role as Ms Darbus, and she was just as incredible as we expected her to be. And to see her do the iconic dance in the finale was unbelievable, 13-year-old Amy was screaming.
Also featuring Jason Donovan as Coach Bolton, Tobias Turley as Troy, Leonor Correia as Gabriella, Caitlin Tipping Sharpay, and Luke Bayer as Ryan, it was a proper impressive cast all round.
It’s a night to properly relive your mid-00s childhood / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
There was crowd interaction right from the off, as they taught the crowd a cheerleading routine to be included later in the show, plus for the finale, they had the lyrics on the big screen too so everyone could sing-along.
If we could go and see this show every single night, we would – it is absolutely brilliant.
Fontaines D.C. announce massive return to Manchester on new European tour
Daisy Jackson
Fontaines D.C. have just announced their biggest headline tour to date, including a massive arena gig here in Manchester.
The wildly popular Irish rock band are set to play a whopping 20 arena shows across Europe and the UK this autumn.
The tour has been announced in celebration of their upcoming fifth studio album, Dopamine Chamber, which is set for release this October.
Fontaines D.C. will hit the road just five days after the album drops, kicking off their European tour in Lisbon on 21 October.
Then they’ll make their way over to the UK, with shows in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Birmingham and London.
Fans in their home country of Ireland are told to stay tuned for live news very soon.
As we speak, Fontaines D.C. are warming up to play one of the country’s biggest festivals, with headline slots at Reading & Leeds Festival.
They’ve already released Marianne, the first single from their new album, and frontman Grian Chatten says of the album: “The album itself is a dopamine chamber. You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”
The new record has been recorded between London, the English countryside, and Palermo, where Chatten recorded vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.
He said: “There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity.”
Tickets will go on general sale at 10am on Thursday 3 September, with pre-sale live from 10am on Tuesday 1 September.
You can access tickets for Fontaines D.C. in Manchester HERE.
Fans who pre-order Dopamine Chamber from the official store by 6pm on Monday 31 August will gain access to the UK pre-sale.
Fontaines D.C. UK tour dates in full
Friday 20 November – Liverpool, UK – M&S Bank Arena
Saturday 21 November – Manchester, UK – AO Arena
Sunday 22 November – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Tuesday 24 November – Leeds, UK – First Direct Bank Arena
Wednesday 25 November – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
Emily Sergeant -
30th January 2025 
