Nick Raynsford, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, has today publicly accused Nationwide Building Society of ‘turning its back’ on its Inner South East London customers.  

Mr Raynsford was speaking following his meeting with Group Distribution Director, Matthew Wyles, to discuss Nationwide’s decision to close all of its inner South East London branches by May this year.

Nationwide plans to close branches in Blackheath, Greenwich, Woolwich, Lewisham, Catford and Peckham.  The only branch to remain open in the entire SE postcode district is in Eltham.  All branches in the leafy outer London suburbs of Bromley, Bexley and Dartford will be unaffected by changes and will remain open.

Inner South East London customers are being told that if they want to visit a branch, they will have to travel to Eltham, Bexleyheath or Bromley.

Mr Raynsford says: ‘The decision to close every single inner-South East London branch inside of the South Circular Road makes a mockery of Nationwide’s current advertising campaign which invites customers to come and visit a branch.  This simply will not be possible if you live in Greenwich and Woolwich.  How is a young mum reliant on public transport living in Woolwich, or a pensioner with no car living in Blackheath, expected to get to Bromley to visit a Nationwide branch?

‘For Nationwide to turn its back on the entire inner-South East London area is shameful and a betrayal of the building society’s co-operative history and roots in mutual banking.  Instead, this disgraceful decision harks back to the redlining practices of the 1970s, when banks deliberately denied their services to people from poorer backgrounds and low incomes’.

Mr Raynsford has urged Nationwide Building Society to urgently rethink its decision.