Barclays in Broadmead will be closed until the end of next week while the windows smashed by activists from Palestine Action are repaired.
Wooden panels stating ‘We are not looking our best’ were removed flast week and the bank will be closed until October 30 while the new windows are fitted. The nearest Barclays branches are in Bath and Newport.
Barclays customers can withdraw or pay in cash at their nearest post office. There is also a Barclays ‘local’ bank in Kingswood but the opening hours are limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays.
On the Broadmead branch website, it says: “This branch is temporarily closed for refurbishment. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
“This branch will close from Wednesday 16 October and re-open on Thursday 31 October 2024. While the builders are here improving your branch, Barclays colleagues will also be available to help you at 4-5 Southgate Street, Bath and 16-18 Commercial Street, Newport.
“For cash, your nearest counter service is the Post Office, 27 Broadmead Gallery, The Mall, and the nearest free-to-use cash machine is at NatWest on Broadmead.
The branch has been the target of pro-Palestine protesters, particularly over the last year and is part of the ‘boycott tours of Broadmead’. While numerous peaceful protests have taken place outside the branch, including some from Climate Change campaigners, in June 2024 the windows were smashed and covered in red paint with the names of Palestinians killed in the Israeli military action in Gaza on the walls.
At the time, Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the attack and said: “Decades of polite campaigning, petitions, letter writing and lobbying MPs have failed. We will continue to escalate until Barclays pulls its finger out and stops funding genocide and climate destruction.”
In a recent statement regarding the bank’s defence policy, a Barclays spokesperson said: “We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do. We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result in us holding shares.
“Whilst we provide financial services to these companies, we are not making investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a “shareholder” or “investor” in that sense in relation to these companies. An associated claim is that we invest in Elbit, an Israeli defence manufacturer which also supplies the UK armed forces with equipment and training.
“For the reasons mentioned, it is not true that we have made a decision to invest in Elbit. We may hold shares in relation to client driven transactions, which is why we appear on the share register, but we are not investors.
“We note also that Elbit is highlighted because campaigners claim it makes cluster bombs. We would cease any relationship with any business where we saw evidence that it manufactures cluster bombs or components.”