Powys: Machynlleth NatWest bank building sells at auction

The former NatWest building on Maengwyn Street, Machynlleth, has been sold at an online auction, going for a price of £161,000 on Thursday, March 21, with the auction opening at 11am and closing just an hour later.

The property was put up for auction by independent property consultancy Allsop, who specified that there may be potential to reconfigure the property, subject to the existing tenancy and obtaining all the necessary consents.

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The property was marketed as a former bank, but also a freehold shop and potential residential investments, leaving options for what could become of the building now that it has been sold.

NatWest's Machynlleth branch first opened in 1836 as a branch of the National Provincial Bank of England, which itself was founded in 1833, making its Machynlleth branch among its first within Wales.

The branch began operating from its premises in Maengwyn Street since at least 1881, with the Machynlleth branch being one of 90 that were open in Wales by the end of 1910. In 1929, the bank temporarily moved from its Maengwyn Street premises while improvement work, returning to the renovated premises in 1930.

The branch building has been vacant since 2017. Pictured here in June 2021. (Image: Google Street View.)

Following a merger in 1970, this time with Westminster Bank, the Machynlleth branch began to trade under the name National Westminster Bank, more commonly known today as NatWest.

To celebrate 175 years of banking in Machynlleth, the premises was the site of an event to mark the occasion.

At the event, Branch manager Eirlys Pugh said: "As a bank we are always keen to look forward, making sure that we move with the times to give our customers what they want.

"That said, it's also important to mark these milestones that remind us how long we've been providing a service to our local community.”

However, just six years later in October 2017, the branch was closed by NatWest, with the bank claiming the decision has been made due to the change in the way that people are choosing to bank.

The building has remained unoccupied since and it is unclear whether the recent purchase of the property will see a change of use for it.