The Halifax building on Bangor High Street has been sold at auction.

 

The property was sold by agents Lambert Smith Hampton as a building with ‘redevelopment potential’ although it was noted to be in poor condition, and it is therefore likely that extensive works would be required before any letting could be achieved.

The auction was held on 1 February, with a starting bid of just £1. Nine bidders competed for the property, which achieved the final selling price of £156,001.

The property comprises a terraced four storey building constructed in the early 1970’s with a total net internal area of 6,838 sq ft. The property is currently let to Bank of Scotland PLC (trading as Halifax) on a lease producing a rent of £62,500 per annum and this will expire on 30 April 2023.

The ground floor of 1,508 sq ft (140 sq m) is set to the layout of a usual retail bank and provides ancillary accommodation with a basement of 1,068 sq ft (99.2 sq m) made for storage. The next three floors total 4,262 sq ft (396 sq m) are utilised as office accommodation and are accessed from two separate internal staircases.

The building occupies the majority of the site, but there is a service yard to the rear which also provides two parking spaces.

The Halifax has confirmed its branch on Bangor High Street will close on 17 April 2023.

Following an in depth review, the Halifax said: “Like many other high street businesses, we’ve seen people using our branches less frequently in recent years as more customers choose to do most of their everyday banking online.

“We’re responding to the way our customers use our branches. We’ll continue to invest in our branch network, but we have to make sure our branches are where customers need and use them most. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to close this branch because customers are using it less often. In addition the majority of customers are also using alternative ways to bank.”

Transactions at the Bangor branch have fallen by 64% in the last five years, with only 109 customers using the branch regularly in 12 months to July 2022.