Barclays Stratford Shuts at 3pm Today Until 4 September

Barclays in Stratford-upon-Avon closes at 3pm today, Wednesday 26 August, and will not reopen until Friday 4 September. The bank says on its own branch page that the closure is temporary and is happening “whilst we’re doing some work”. That is nine days without the town’s Barclays counter, including the bank holiday weekend.

The district council granted the bank a new lease on the building five days ago, along with a separate licence consenting to works by the tenant.

Where to go while it is shut

Barclays names three alternatives on its branch page:

• Post Office, 2-3 Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6PU, for everyday cash and cheque banking.
• The free-to-use cash machine at Lloyds, 22 Bridge Street, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6AG.
• Barclays staff at 48-50 The Parade, Leamington Spa CV32 4DD, Monday to Friday 9.30am to 4.30pm and Saturday 9.30am to 1pm.

For other cash services the bank points customers to the LINK cash locator.

Normal hours at Market Cross are 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday and 9.30am to 1pm on Saturday, when the branch runs a self-service counter only and cannot take large cash or coin transactions. Those hours resume on Friday 4 September.

The council granted the lease and the works licence on 21 August

The closure follows a decision taken by the district council’s chief executive, in their capacity as head of paid service, and published on 21 August 2026.

The decision covers two things: a lease of “Barclays Bank Wood Street, Stratford-upon-Avon”, and “a licence to consent to some works to be carried out by the tenant”. Both were granted.

The reasons recorded on the decision notice are worth reading in full, because they say who owns the building:

The property belongs jointly to Stratford upon Avon Town Trust and to the Council (the latter’s share is 81.3%). It is occupied as a bank available to provide services to the public and businesses.

Agents for the council and for the Town Trust agreed terms with agents for Barclays, with the council also represented by its own legal service. The council recorded the alternative option it rejected as simply declining to grant the lease and licence. The decision was not a key decision and was not subject to call-in.

The council’s decision notice does not say how long the new lease runs, what rent was agreed or what the works are. We have not seen those figures published anywhere, and the notice does not name a date for the works either. What the council has published, and what Barclays has published, line up in sequence: the lease and the works licence on 21 August, the temporary closure for works from 26 August.

The bank is a Grade II listed market house

The building Barclays occupies is not an ordinary branch, which is part of why a freeholder’s licence for works matters here.

Historic England lists it three times over, all Grade II and all first listed on 25 October 1951:

• Barclays Bank, 47 Wood Street
• Barclays Bank (part), 46 Wood Street
• Barclays Bank, 20 Bridge Street

Three addresses, one corner site. That is why the council’s decision calls it “Barclays Bank Wood Street” while Barclays gives its own address as Market Cross, CV37 6AP. The branch sits on the corner where Wood Street, Bridge Street and Henley Street meet.

The list entry describes it as a “Market House, now bank”, built in 1821. It incorporates a building of about 1640 that had been refronted in the eighteenth century. The ground floor was enclosed in the 1860s, and the whole was converted to a bank in 1908.

The listing names the architect as William Thompson and the builder as William Izod. It describes the stucco facade with rounded angles, the parapet and the clock tower.

What it means for you

If you bank at Barclays in Stratford, plan for nine days without a counter in the town, and note that the middle of that period is a bank holiday weekend when other branches are shut too.

• Cash out: the Lloyds machine at 22 Bridge Street is the free-to-use one Barclays itself points to, just along the street from Market Cross.
• Counter services: Barclays points customers to the Post Office at 2-3 Henley Street.
• Anything needing a member of staff: Leamington Spa is where Barclays is directing people. If you are driving there, our roadworks and travel page has the current closures on the Stratford to Warwick side, and the town centre parking tariffs.
• The reopening date is Barclays’ own, published on its branch page. If the works overrun it can move, so check before you make a special trip.

This is a temporary closure, not a branch closure. The council has just granted a new lease on the building, and the decision notice records the property as being “occupied as a bank available to provide services to the public and businesses”.

Sources

• Barclays branch page for Stratford upon Avon, for the temporary closure notice, the reopening date, the address, the opening hours and the alternatives at the Post Office, the Lloyds cash machine and Leamington Spa. Checked 26 August 2026.
• Stratford-on-Avon District Council, decision 4222: Barclays Bank Lease, published 21 August 2026, for the grant of the lease and the licence to consent to works, the joint ownership with Stratford upon Avon Town Trust and the council’s 81.3% share.
• Historic England’s National Heritage List for England, entries 1207522, 1187875 and 1187766, for the Grade II listings, the statutory addresses and the building’s history as a market house of 1821 converted to a bank in 1908.

We approached no individuals for this story; it is reported from the council’s own published decision and from Barclays’ own branch page. If the works overrun, the reopening date on the bank’s page is the one to watch.