THE Holsworthy branch of the Coventry Building Society is to close in September; it has been confirmed.

Operated as an ‘agency’ branch and located in the offices of Simpkins Edwards LLP, bosses at Coventry Building Society have cited a significant fall in transactions as the reason why it is set to close at 12pm on September 10.

The closure comes alongside proposals to close the other branches of its agency network in Devon and elsewhere, with the others affected in Bovey Tracey and Okehampton.

After its closure, the nearest branch of the building society which will be open for ‘in-person’ transactions will be in Plymouth, representing an approximate round trip of 85.2 miles from Holsworthy for face-to-face service or a single journey of one hour and 19 minutes according to the building society’s own assessments.

The other nearest branch is located in Exeter, a round trip of 92 miles but a 46-minute car journey away.

An accompanying impact assessment citing the reasons for the closure noted: “In this instance, we’re proposing to close our agency in Holsworthy.

“This is due to low usage and to help us maintain a thriving branch network that’s valued by members. We acquired our agency network in 2010 when we bought Stroud & Swindon Building Society.

“These locations have been a strong provider of our services since then, providing great support to their local communities. Before making this decision, we considered a number of things.

“We thought about how it might impact our members. We looked at each location and how the agency was being used. We also explored what alternatives there are for members in each area. Two weeks before the closure of our agencies, we’ll provide an update with any feedback we’ve received and how we’re going to answer any issues or concerns raised”

The member-owned building society has said that it intends to ‘support customers’ through the closure process, helping to transfer them to digital services as well as signposting them to other organisations such as Citizens Advice and Age UK.

In the documents explaining the reasons for its closure, Coventry Building Society stated: “Transactions have fallen across our branch network and the number of people using our agencies is on average, more than three times lower than our branches.”

Citing transaction data from the period January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2025, it continued: “Average transactions have remained relatively stable over the past eight years. However, usage is low with average daily transactions 70 per cent lower than the branch average.

“Six per cent of customers who use this agency do so more than once a month on average and three per cent of customers who use this agency also use another channel (such as online banking or telephone).”

Confirming the news, a spokesperson for Coventry Building Society said: “The Holsworthy agency will close at 12pm on Thursday, September 10, 2026. We would like to thank all our colleagues at Holsworthy agency for their support since 2010.”