A permanent banking hub is set to open in Dorking town centre this summer, replacing a temporary facility that has run from a council office since March 2025. The new site at 14 High Street will serve customers of all five major UK banks under one roof, in a district that ranks among the lowest in England for cash access.
The hub is operated by Cash Access UK, the organisation set up to preserve face-to-face banking in towns that have lost their last branch. The town has been without a high street bank branch since 2023, and residents have been using a temporary hub at Mole Valley District Council’s Pippbrook offices for more than a year.
What’s Replacing the Temporary Setup
The permanent hub will sit in the former NatWest unit at 14 High Street, address RH4 1AX, on the main shopping street. The operator confirmed the location last month, and work to convert the empty branch is underway. The temporary Pippbrook site will close once the new hub opens its doors.
Councillor Paula Keay, Mole Valley District Council’s cabinet member for sustainable economy, framed the move as a vacant high street unit being put back into use. “The search for a permanent home for a Banking hub in the centre of Dorking High Steet has concluded,” Keay said in a statement, with the new location securing “a former prominent vacant unit in the town” for the long term. Keay also used the statement to underline the case for a second hub in the district.
The Dorking story runs in parallel with a deeper contest over where banking hubs get built, and who gets one at all. Mole Valley District Council had argued that its other main town, Leatherhead, also needed a hub. That argument was lost in July 2025, and the council’s appeal to an independent assessor was rejected. The result is a single banking hub for the district, situated in the south.
Five Banks Under One Roof
Banking hubs are designed to consolidate counter services from multiple lenders in a single shared space. The permanent site will offer cash and cheque deposits, cash withdrawals, and bill payments for customers of any major bank.
On top of the shared counter, a community banker from a different institution will be on site each weekday, so customers can sit down with someone who knows their own account. The five banks are Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Santander, and Lloyds, the same roster that operates in other UK hubs. The community banker rota is fixed: HSBC on Mondays, Barclays on Tuesdays, Santander on Wednesdays, NatWest on Thursdays, and Lloyds on Fridays. That schedule repeats every week once the hub opens.
The shared counter and the community banker arrangement sit inside the same opening hours, 9am to 5pm on weekdays. The model is the same one Cash Access UK has rolled out in towns that have lost their last branch.
The point of the design is that no single bank has to keep a branch open in a town that no longer supports one.
- 5 major UK banks covered: Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Santander, Lloyds
- 1 appeal lost by MVDC against LINK’s rejection of a Leatherhead hub, July 2025
Where Cash Access Stands in Mole Valley
Mole Valley ranks among the lowest areas in the country for access to cash, with very limited ATM provision, the council has said. The new hub is intended as the main response to that gap for the south of the district, in a building within walking distance of the main retail strip.
Cash Access UK has been opening hubs in towns that have lost their last branch and where the next nearest counter is too far for daily use. For Dorking, the arrangement amounts to the closest thing to a branch the town is likely to see for the foreseeable future. The pattern of coverage outrunning use has shown up in India’s rural banking coverage gap as well, where headline access numbers have not always translated into everyday use. The Mole Valley gap is similar in shape, if smaller in scale.
Leatherhead’s Lost Appeal
The story inside this opening is the one playing out in the north of the district, where Leatherhead residents continue to push for a hub of their own. Mole Valley District Council applied to LINK, the body that funds and approves banking hubs, for a Leatherhead site alongside the Dorking bid. LINK said no.
MVDC appealed the rejection in late 2024, citing inaccuracies in LINK’s data, including underestimates of Leatherhead’s population and the number of cash-handling retailers in the town. An independent assessor considered the appeal and, in the council’s 31 July 2025 statement on the appeal, upheld LINK’s original call. The assessor’s conclusion was that LINK’s evaluation was “carried out fairly and properly” and that its decision not to recommend a Leatherhead hub “is justified.”
The assessor’s reasoning leaned on two features of the town that LINK had already factored in. The presence of a Nationwide branch and an automated deposit service installed on North Street were treated as partial substitutes for a full hub. Councillor Keay, in the same statement, described the assessor’s decision as hard to accept and said the council would keep pressing for accessible banking in the district.
For now, the only over-the-counter banking service in Mole Valley sits at Pippbrook in Dorking, where the temporary hub runs from 9am to 5pm on weekdays. Anyone in the north of the district who needs to deposit cash, withdraw cash, or pay a utility bill face to face has to travel to Dorking. The district council has said residents and businesses in the north of the district want a Leatherhead hub, and the appeal loss has not closed that campaign, even though the formal route through LINK is now exhausted.
The decision reached by the Independent Assessor is difficult to accept and very disappointing. We know that residents and businesses in the north of the district want a banking hub, and we have explored every avenue available to us in terms of appealing LINK’s decision not to recommend that a banking hub be established in Leatherhead.
Councillor Paula Keay, MVDC’s Cabinet Member for Sustainable Economy, made the comments in a 31 July 2025 council statement after the assessor upheld LINK’s rejection of a Leatherhead hub. She added that the criteria LINK applies are “very strict” and that over-the-counter services remain available during the working week at the Pippbrook office while a permanent home is being readied in Dorking.
A Drop-In Before the Doors Open
Before the permanent hub opens, Cash Access UK is running a public information event in the town centre. The drop-in takes place at Friday Market in St Martin’s Walk on Friday, June 12, 2026, from 8am to 2pm. Representatives will be on hand to answer questions from residents and traders who want to know what services the new site will and will not offer.
Vanessa Robinson, Regional Manager for London and the Southeast at Cash Access UK, said the organisation was looking forward to the opening. She thanked the team at MVDC’s Pippbrook offices for hosting the temporary hub, and said residents would be kept updated as the work in the former NatWest branch is completed. The community banker rota and the shared counter services will both be available from the first day the new hub opens, and the temporary Pippbrook service will close at that point.
Hubs and the UK Branch Map
The new hub is part of a UK rollout of shared banking sites set up in towns that have lost their last branch. Cash Access UK has been opening hubs in places where the next nearest counter is too far for daily use, with the Dorking site the latest in Surrey.
The hubs are deliberately plain. The shared counter handles deposits, withdrawals, and bill payments for any major bank, and the community banker rota gives customers one day a week with someone from their own lender. The opening hours are 9am to 5pm on weekdays, matching the hours of the temporary Pippbrook site. The how banking hubs work in the UK explainer from Cash Access UK spells out the same design, and the the counter services that banking hubs provide page sets out the partner role.
For Mole Valley, the test of the new hub is whether the south of the district’s counter service gap can be closed without forcing north-of-district customers to make a long round trip. The Leatherhead application is closed for now, but the council’s call for a second hub is not.
- Late 2024: LINK decides the only banking hub in Mole Valley will be in Dorking, rejecting a Leatherhead application.
- March 2025: A temporary banking hub opens at Mole Valley District Council’s Pippbrook offices in Dorking.
- July 2025: MVDC’s appeal against LINK’s Leatherhead rejection is considered and rejected by an independent assessor.
- June 12, 2026: Cash Access UK holds an information drop-in at Friday Market in St Martin’s Walk, from 8am to 2pm.
- Summer 2026: A permanent banking hub is set to open at 14 High Street, Dorking, in the former NatWest unit.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will the Dorking banking hub open?
Cash Access UK and Mole Valley District Council have said the permanent hub at 14 High Street will open in summer 2026. An exact opening date has not been published. A public drop-in on June 12, 2026 is the next scheduled community event before the opening.
Which banks will be available at the Dorking hub?
The shared counter will handle transactions for customers of any major UK bank. Community bankers from Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Santander, and Lloyds will each be on site one day a week, with a published rota running Monday to Friday.
Will the temporary hub at Pippbrook stay open?
The temporary hub at MVDC’s Pippbrook offices, which has run since March 2025, will close once the permanent site at 14 High Street opens. Cash Access UK has thanked the Pippbrook team for hosting the temporary service.
What happened with the Leatherhead banking hub application?
LINK rejected a Mole Valley District Council application for a Leatherhead hub in late 2024. MVDC appealed, citing underestimates of Leatherhead’s population and the number of cash-handling retailers. An independent assessor upheld LINK’s decision in a 31 July 2025 statement.
What about the North Street automated deposit service?
Cash Access UK opened an automated deposit service on North Street in Leatherhead as a partial alternative to a full banking hub. LINK’s assessor treated the North Street service and the presence of a Nationwide branch as factors that reduced the case for a Leatherhead hub.
