The disappearing bank – where did it go?

I just read a wonderful (and disturbing) piece by journo Virginia Fallon in the local paper who tells of losing her credit card at the beach. After seeing that the bank in her town was closed (in fact empty), she rang the hotline and was told (very nicely) to “just pop into your local branch and they’ll get a new one for you”. Trouble is, Virginia’s local branch is now over 90 minutes’ drive away!

Why are all the bank branches disappearing off the streets? Have they perhaps been effected by Covid?