I had to go into a bank last week and I get the impression that their main aim is to keep people out .
Yes, they certainly don't welcome you with open arms anymore, do they? It's often hard to even find anybody there - you feel like you've broken into a deserted haunted house or something!
There was a time when they didn't seem to want you in for everyday transactions, but they DID have salespeople ready to pounce if you wanted a loan/mortgage from them; but now, even with those, they seem to want you to do it all online or over the phone. It wouldn't be so bad if the people on the phones actually understood what they were doing and wanted to help you, instead of just reading from a script and computer-says-no-ing you.
I don't think it will be long now until the banks only have one branch left open in each large city or region - so maybe a couple of dozen across the country at most and none at all left in towns - and even they will be closed as soon as they can scare people away enough and then claim that nobody wants to use them.
There have been a lot of suggestions about shared banking hubs, but I don't think these have really taken off (maybe they've done this in a few isolated island communities?); or they could even do what the Post Office has done and set up a counter in the back of WH Smith's, the Co-op or wherever instead of maintaining their own premises. Maybe either of those would be shooting themselves in the foot, though, as they would then have far less of a financial excuse for closing branches, if it was costing them much, much less to run them?
One thing is for sure, though: once the bank branches go, so will cash. It won't be quite as quick in small family-run shops, as they will be able to still accept cash and then just keep it out of the banks (and save themselves charges) for their own personal spending (presumably still all legit going through the books, though), where their profits are their livelihood. The big shops, though: not a chance. Cash - as has been valued and coveted for centuries - will finally be seen as a burden and you'll actually get people groaning and sighing when offered it, instead of an online transfer, like you do already with teenagers now!