An application to allow disabled access at a former Ceredigion high street bank which closed back in 2023 to make the listed property more marketable has been approved.

Lloyds Bank closed its Lampeter High Street branch in May 2023 which it said followed a decrease in people using the branch to do their banking, with a rise in people using online or telephone banking instead.

It was one of a number of branches closed in 2023 across the UK and the second bank to close in the town in less than a year, following Barclays’ closure the previous August.

The property has been vacant since Lloyds Bank terminated its lease in October 2023.

Since then, an application was recently submitted to introduce disabled access to the Grade II listed building, at 9 High Street, Lampeter through the alteration of an existing side entrance door leaving the elevation to the listed building unaltered.

A supporting statement said Lloyds itself had submitted a 2018 accessibility scheme, which was declined on the basis of the harm to the listed building.

Since the branch closed an extensive marketing campaign has been commissioned seeking a tenant for the vacant ground floor which identified the absence of a disabled access as having a significant impact on future lettings, the statement says.

An officer report says, in respect of the latest application, a pre-application enquiry submitted several options for gaining disabled access, a final option following discussions of using a side door that provides access to the flat.

“In relation to the creation of an opening in the side wall of the main banking hall, whilst this will inevitably impact on the historic fabric, specifically in terms of masonry, this is less of an impact on the significance of the building than [other options].”

The application was conditionally approved.