HSBC has announced that its Golders Green and Hampstead High Street branches will close this summer.

The Hampstead High Street branch will shut on September 27 and the Golders Green will close on August 18. They are two of 69 HSBC branches that will close this year.

The news comes at a time when banks all over the UK have closed their branches, favouring online banking and prompting fears of the demise of the high street.

The Lloyds in Muswell Hill shut its doors in January this year and Crouch End's Natwest closed in November. Barclays in Highgate closed in 2020.

HSBC made the announcement as part of its “transformation programme”, which saw it axe 82 sites last year.

It said the closures have been driven by the continued growth of online banking across its customers.

The bank said that less than 50% of its customers now regularly use its branch network, with footfall dropping sharply over the past five years.

Jackie Uhi, head of HSBC UK’s branch network, said: “Our branches continue to support people with their more complex banking needs, but the way we can do this has also evolved, with the addition of banking hubs, community pop-ups and continued use of the Post Office network."