A day at the races – but don’t expect to bank your winnings
A MASSIVE thank you to Robert Vaughan who worked as a manager in the property department for NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland in the 1990s and early 2000s.
As part of his role, Robert had to take pictures of the bank’s branches – as well as rival ones (nothing nefarious there, he was on an interbank liaison committee!).
Just before Christmas, he contacted me after learning from this column how fellow reader Robert Montgomery had spent years building up a collection of photographs of bank branches. He wondered if his namesake might be interested in his own collection of pictures of bank branches, past and present.
Robert M has said he would be delighted to receive the pictures to add to his archive.
A perfect marriage, given Robert V’s collection is focused on the East Midlands and East Anglia – while Robert M’s is primarily London and its suburbs, Merseyside, Chester and North Wales.
What a library Robert Montgomery is amassing. It will undoubtedly delight historians in the years to come when they will look at the pictures and proclaim: ‘A bank branch? What the hell is that?’ For the record, there were 619 branch closures made last year, meaning more than half of the country’s banks open in 2015 will have shut by the end of August. A shameful state of affairs.
One final thought on bank branch closures. How is it that Ascot in Berkshire, one of the country’s wealthiest towns, has just lost its last high street bank (Barclays)? It beggars belief.
I often drive through this town with its thriving high street (usually to do a 10km run at nearby Dorney Lake) and, of course, the splendid racecourse. It’s always bustling with activity.
If Ascot isn’t deemed worthy of a bank branch (Handelsbanken, admittedly, does have an office on a nearby business park), which town is? Bankers, an explanation please.