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Businesses welcome county's first banking hub

Ellen Knight
BBC Radio Shropshire
BBC A woman looking into the camera and smiling, she's wearing a black zip-up fleece and coat. She's standing inside a florists shop and holding a brightly coloured bouquet of flowers, in yellows, oranges, greens, and purples. The walls and window frames of the shop are light green, and she's surrounded by other bouquets of flowers. Beyond the shop window lies a street on a bright and sunny day. BBC
Florist Jenny McHale said the banking hub was taking pressure off queues in the Post Office

Businesses have praised a banking hub, describing the service as "excellent" after the last bank in town said it would close its doors.

The new hub in Whitchurch, the first of its kind in Shropshire, allows customers to take out cash, make deposits and check balances without having to travel to other areas.

It was set up by CashAccess, a non-profit organisation owned and run by major banks, aiming to make sure people can still get cash when they need it.

The last regular bank standing in Whitchurch - TSB - announced it would shut in May.

Kenny Bould who works at Timpsons, over the road from the hub's base, said: "I use it to put money in, and also we need change, and every time I've been in there's no queue - [I go] in and out, it's brilliant."

Mr Bould said the provision would "help me loads" and was a "brilliant idea".

A man is pictured looking into the camera and smiling. He's wearing a blue checked shirt and a navy tie, with a maroon red apron over the top. He's stood in front of the shop counter inside Timpsons, with watch straps, keys and padlocks behind him.
Mr Bould said the banking hub had been "brilliant" for him

So far, the hub has representatives from TSB, Halifax, Barclays, and NatWest coming in one day per week.

It offers private spaces to talk through financial concerns with experts.

TSB announced last year it would be closing its Whitchurch branch, saying it was because the majority of their customers were using digital rather than face-to-face services.

According to figures from TSB, 96% of transactions take place outside of branches, with those carried out in-branch falling by 43% since 2020.

A woman pictured looking into the camera and smiling. She's wearing a brown cardigan and a leopard-print scarf. She's standing in front of shelves in her shop, which are displaying wooden heart decorations, spectacles cases, animal-print socks, and note pads.
Sharron Marriott hopes the hub will increase footfall in Whitchurch town centre

Some locals are worried that losing the town's last bank could lead to a drop in footfall on the high street, but hope the hub can make a difference.

"A lot of people won't come to the town any longer to do their banking, and so won't look round the shops" said Sharron Marriott, who runs Make Your House A Home.

She said she hoped the hub would change that.

A red-brick building with grey window frames and a grey sign with white writing reading Banking Hub. There are two people walking past the front of the hub, and to the left of the image there is a WH Smith shop. The weather is bright and sunny.
Some businesses hope the hub will lure more shoppers to Whitchurch

Florist Jenny McHale from Gallery Flowers said the banking hub was "removing the pressure" from the local Post Office, where locals had previously been taking out cash.

"When you're in the Post Office you're in a queue for 25, 30 minutes, maybe longer," she said.

Ms McHale added that aside from the new hub, her closest bank branch was a 45-minute drive away in Chester.

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Barbara Bailey works at the Antiques Emporium, which relies solely on cash

For businesses that rely on cash, having somewhere to deposit - and withdraw - money is essential.

Barbara Bailey from Antiques Emporium says the business can miss out from a lack of banking provision, as it doesn't accept card payments at all.

"We find that [customers] can't walk anywhere to get [cash] - they say 'we'll come back' and then they don't come back," she said.

Photo of a man looking into the camera. He has shoulder length brown hair and is wearing a black zip-up hoodie. He's standing inside his shop, and to his left there are stacks of records and artwork framed on the wall. The shop window is directly behind him showing part of the street beyond.
Record shop owner Mark Fulton said the hub was "a good second choice"

The importance of cash was echoed by Mark Fulton, who runs record store The Vinyl Countdown.

"As a business owner it's obviously essential that we have somewhere we can pay cash in and take cash out," he explained.

And that while "the ideal scenario" would be having full-time bank branches back in the town, he said, the shared hub was "a good second choice".

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