Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) has announced that it will close its only Isle of Wight branch early next year.
Ward House Mortgages and Life, located at the top of Union Street in Ryde, has been serving the town for some 37 years. For the past 15 years, since 2010, they’ve operated the YBS agency alongside their day-to-day business. But that is all about to change…
Customers of the Ryde-based building society have been told they will need to travel to Portsmouth, Fareham or Southampton in the future when the doors close at noon on 30th January 2026. Alternatively, customers will be able to access accounts online at www.ybs.co.uk.
It is known that Yorkshire Building Society is also closing branches in locations such as Church Stretton, Shropshire.
Michael Ward, Senior Partner, has said that the decision to close the agency was made by Yorkshire Building Society itself, but his own business will continue to serve the local community.
A spokesperson for Yorkshire Building Society has said:
“Yorkshire Building Society has made the difficult decision to close our Ryde agency from 30 January 2026.
“While this agency is not well used, we understand customers who still use it may be disappointed. We have written to them to explain how they can continue to manage their accounts with us, whether that’s online, over the phone or face-to-face.
Article continues below this advertisement “While we remain committed to keeping a national network, as a mutual owned by our members we always think carefully about how we invest their money to help people save and buy a home. This includes reviewing on an ongoing basis how people manage their money with us and use our branches and agencies.”
The news comes just weeks after Lloyds Bank announced the closure of its Ryde branch. It’s said that the bank will close on 21st January 2026, although the latest information suggests this may have now been pushed back to October 2026.
LINK, the UK’s Cash Access and ATM network, has confirmed that Ryde will receive a new banking hub to help bridge the gap, but specific details have not yet been made available.
Ryde residents were once well-served, with as many as 10 building societies and 5 banks on the High Street back in 1988 when Michael Ward started out in business. But as of next year, Ryde will only just a single building society – Nationwide – that is open just 4 days a week.
Santander’s Ryde branch closed in June 2019, with Barclays closing its doors in August 2022. Then both HSBC and Natwest closed in August 2023, with Lloyds to follow suit.
Anyone with any questions or concerns about the closure of YBS in Ryde is advised to pop into the branch any time before the closure date.
Sadly another one bites the dust, and Lloyds Bank
is closing down at the end of next year.
Where are all the new jobs coming from!!
The Island Photo Centre is also closing down as well.
As a client of YBS, I will be disappointed but not surprised,
Back in 1998, Barclays did some market research about how people used their banks.
It showed that in most towns and villages, daily footfall was as low as 5-10 people per day.
Obviously the costs of keeping the branch open were way more than economically viable, so the decision was made to start closures.
The “High Street” that people keep harping on about, is disappearing and shops are closing down at a rate of knots.
Big department stores, which used to be packed out in the 60’s to 90’s, are all closing or have closed.
People do not like “shopping”.
It is sad, but as with most things, it is a case of adapt or die
PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE SHOPPING UR HAVIN A LAUGH YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL OUTLOOK ADAPT OR DIE GOOD LUCK WITH THAT YOUR A JOKE
people love shopping, they love the experience of going out, browsing around and picking up bargains.
The high streets will survive, however, they will always reflect the society of the day, so expect them to change continually
The world plan is to close all small businesses down
bring in digital ID’s and control what people
buy.
It is coming.
Yep
Totally agree – there are many who still want to speak to a human and discuss their financial affairs. Why should we now have to travel to Portsmouth in order to do so? The staff at the Ryde branch are so helpful and are devastated at this sudden announcement.
Why is this not higher profile – it compounds the loss of all banks in Ryde and gives no recognition of the peculiar situation of an Island.
Those using the YBS in Ryde need to join with the staff and lobby against this closure.