Llanelli is to lose another high street bank branch, with the Halifax on Cowell Street set to close in November.
The branch, at 24-26 Cowell Street, will shut on 3 November 2026, Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed.
The bank said the closure reflected a shift in how people choose to bank, with most customers now using its app, online services or phone banking.
It is the latest branch to go as Lloyds Banking Group winds down the 173-year-old Halifax brand, with millions of customers due to be migrated to Lloyds.
Halifax customers in Llanelli are being directed to the Lloyds branch at 21 Stepney Street, a short distance away, which offers counter service and a cash machine.
The nearest Post Office for everyday banking is on Church Street, while the branch’s own cash machine will close when the branch does.
Figures published by the bank show 362 customers were still using the Cowell Street counter or deposit machine regularly in the six months to February.
The branch’s customers skew older than average — more than half are aged 55 or over, and one in five is 75 or older — the group most likely to rely on a counter rather than an app.
There is history in the building itself. The ornate red-brick premises on Cowell Street are Grade II listed, having been built in 1890 — as a bank.
Designed by the Swansea architects Wilson and Moxham in an elaborate “Queen Anne” style, it was originally home to the South Wales Union Bank. Cadw, which lists the building, describes it as an unusual and fine example of the style.
Under Financial Conduct Authority rules, the cash machine network LINK carried out an independent review of access to cash in Llanelli before the closure was confirmed.
LINK completed its assessment on 10 June and concluded that no new cash services are needed, judging that the town already has suitable facilities — including a Post Office, a bank branch, a building society and a free-to-use cash machine.
It means Llanelli will not get a shared banking hub of the kind secured by some other towns in the area.
Residents and local organisations have 28 days from the decision to ask LINK to review it, if they believe there is new information or a mistake that could change the outcome.
The closure comes just weeks after NatWest confirmed it is also closing its Llanelli branch in September, adding to the steady loss of face-to-face banking in the town.
It also lands against a long run of closures across south-west Wales, with Lloyds having shut its Ammanford and Gorseinon branches earlier this year and Barclays pulling out of towns including Morriston and Port Talbot.
Some communities have won a banking hub in response — Gorseinon among them — while others, such as Pontardawe, have been turned down.
Nationally, Lloyds Banking Group announced in February that 95 more branches across its three brands would close by March next year, 31 of them Halifax sites.
Customers worried about the change can switch accounts through the free Current Account Switch Service, or get one-to-one help with digital banking through the bank’s digital helpline.
For Llanelli, though, the Cowell Street closure is one more gap on a high street that has lost bank after bank in recent years.
