A FORMER high street bank is set to be converted into a restaurant or cafe after banking giant Barclays axed the branch last year.
The twentieth century two-storey brick building in Billericay High Street is currently vacant following the closure of the Barclays bank in August of last year.
Barclays has since launched a community baking site in the nearby Chantry Centre which is open on Mondays and Wednesdays.
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And now the landlord – Mayfair-based firm D & A Limited – intends to remodel the former bank’s frontage and install a new shopfront to form a more desirable retail unit to be filled by a restaurant or café.
“Our high street is still quite vibrant and it regenerates itself, which we are quite lucky it does,” Billericay West councillor Phil Turner said.
“Of course, many of our residents miss their local banking branches they can visit in person.
“But these firms are losing people walking through the door with most people moving to online banking, so those buildings obviously need to find new lives to keep the high street alive.
“We have a good balance between day and night-time economy in the area, and we need to preserve that.”
The Barclays branch is one of many banking giants to quit Billericay in recent years.
Natwest closed its High Street branch in August of last year, followed by HSBC in September, with Lloyds also following suit in November, leaving Santander – which has slashed opening hours – as the only major bank with an open branch on the High Street.
Halifax quit the town in early 2020, meaning a total of five banks have closed in almost three years.
D & A Limited has submitted a planning application to Basildon Council for permission to remove the existing ground floor front windows and replace them with a new painted timber shopfront for the proposed use of the site as a restaurant or coffee shop.
“It is held that the proposal improves the usefulness of the property and therefore more desirable to prospective tenants,” planning documents state.
“The proposed shopfront has been designed to be appropriate and sympathetic to the existing building and surroundings.”
The council will decided on the plans in due course.
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