Banks in general hate accepting int'l cheques due to clearance risk and time frame for clearance they pose.
A standard domestic cheque (personal or bank) will clear in 1-3 days depending on your bank etc.
An international cheque has to be processed by the bank (who rec'd it) in the country of presentation then sent all the way back to country (and bank) of issuance for payment to the bank who accepted this....and this could take weeks or months.
Thus without knowing a companies specific arrangements with their bank, the bank may have been agreeable to clear the int'l cheque for their client (Negotiated clearance for a % fee) and take the clearance risk due to their relationship with that client hoping the cheque isn't dishonoured by bank of origin and the receiving bank eventually gets paid weeks later....(note, the bank still has the right to reverse the credit if the cheque is dishonoured weeks / months later). More generally, the bank will accept the int'l cheque without crediting funds to the payee's account then send the cheque bank to bank / country of origin (on Collection) for processing, which again takes weeks to await the cheque to clear and the issuing bank to send the funds electronically to the receiving bank....
I suspect that Chard's bank is trying to extract themselves from this service offering given it's a right PITA for any bank these days given the decline in the cheque product use, costs, clearance risk and processing times associated with cheque processing......Will be interested to see if Barclays open this service back up or it's just a step stone to ease the service offering out the door.