The town with no free cashpoints
Posh drags Spice invaders to her fashion bash
VICTORIA Beckham spiced up her London Fashion Week party with a very nostalgic performance by a drag act.
The designer, 44, embraced her Posh Spice pop star past while celebrating her autumn/ winter 2019 collection and the launch of her YouTube Fashion & Beauty channel at Mark’s Club in Mayfair on Sunday night. And Ginger, Sporty, Scary and Baby made a surprise appearance – of sorts – in the form of drag act The Spice Gurrls.
Victoria even joined in as they belted out hits including THOUSANDS of residents are being forced to pay up to £3.50 to withdraw cash now all their “free-to-use” bank machines have disappeared.
Burslem in Stoke-on–Trent – with a population of 24,000 – has seen all its banks and building societies close over the past three years.
Branches of Nationwide, NatWest and Lloyds have all disappeared.
The only ATMs left in the area charge between 95p and £3.50 for withdrawals.
Free-to-use bank machines have been closing at an unprecedented rate of about 250 a month in the UK since the start of 2018. While there Wannabe. Her husband, ex-England footballer David, 43, giggled along as he watched the show with their son Brooklyn, 19, and his girlfriend Hana Cross, 21. has been a decline in cash use, almost three-quarters of adults in the UK say they still need money at least two or three times a week.
Business owners and shoppers in Burslem said the lack of cash machines makes life “very difficult”.
The last branch to close its doors was Lloyds last year, leaving the town without any bank ATMs at all.
Burslem, home town of pop star Robbie Williams, was once famed around the world for its pottery and each year thousands of tourists still visit the area. However, Phil Hardy, Gurrl power ...drag act performs at party as Victoria and Brooklyn Beckham enjoy fun 53, who owns Otter’s Tears Beer Company in the town, claims people are now forced to use a bank 20 miles away to get cash.
He said: “The lack of physical cash has affected my business in more ways than one.
Urgency
“If the card reader doesn’t work then I don’t get the business.”
Burslem resident Janette Allen, 66, added: “It’s just not fair. A lot of people like having money on them.”
Stoke-on-Trent North Labour MP Ruth Smeeth, whose seat covers
aBurslem, raised the problem in Parliamentary debate last month.
She said: “I have asked the Treasury minister to meet me as a matter of urgency to see what can be done to reverse this situation.
“We need to ensure that our ATM companies are meeting their obligations to provide free access to cash.”
Robert Jenrick, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We are continuously pressing the payment regulator and the Link organisation, which manages the ATM network, to ensure a good supply of cash in all parts of the country.”