Banging when tap turned off

[ItsMeMyselfandI]

As the title says, our hot tap bangs.
Washer fills with hot water and has always caused a slight knock when it fills as it stops and starts half a dozen times as it takes on the water. Although the washer is downstairs in the kitchen the knock has always been more prominent upstairs in the bathroom.
This past week it's become more of a loud bang and become increasingly worse. I've also started to notice it when we turn off the hot tap in the kitchen sink or downstairs loo. I've not noticed the problem upstairs in the only bathroom we have, not in the bathroom sink,bath or shower.
Whats causing this? I'm thinking it's water pressure as the water is suddenly stopped when the tap is turned off???
Is it dangerous? Why has it become more prominent all of a sudden? Will it cause a leak? Is there any way to remedy it?

Just any helpful advice on thus would be much appreciated.

Central heating?

Sounds like water hammer which is the noise of water under pressure suddenly having to stop or change direction. Normally there are chambers of air within a plumbing system that cushion the noise, these chambers become waterlogged and no longer act as a cushion.

The water has to be turned off and the offending tap/taps drained to allow chambers to refill with air

We have this but with cold taps, in our case I think it's what's known as "water hammer" which (I found by googling) you can sometimes fix by draining and then refilling the system, but it can also be due to pipes not being fixed to the wall properly and moving too much. (I think ours may be a bit of both as it got a bit better when we drained and refilled but then got worse again). If not sorted it can eventually lead to leaks apparently. But it said for hot taps another cause is copper pipes expanding with the heat. This link was quite good for example www.homecureplumbers.co.uk/noisy-pipes-5-causes-and-solutions/

Try turning down the water pressure a wee bit on the stop-cock inside the house.

I had this. I tried all the 'water hammer' solutions, which reduced it for a while but came back. Eventually tracked it back (god knows how, I'm not a plumber) to the kitchen tap and replaced the washer - all good