JEFF PRESTRIDGE: Nationwide is the ‘last’ bank in Windsor- and it’s a sign of things to come

There is a spring in the step of those good people who run Nationwide – by a country mile, the country’s largest building society. They have just agreed to purchase rival Virgin Money – and they’ve got the banks firmly on the back foot over their collective propensity to axe branches as if they are dead wood.

Having recently annoyed its banking rivals with a witty TV advert featuring Dominic West as a swaggering, smoothie-drinking, branch-axing banker, Nationwide has now taken another swipe at the banks.

This time, it has put up a sign alongside a road on the outskirts of Windsor in Berkshire which says: ‘You are now leaving Windsor. Just like the big banks.’ Underneath these words, it adds: ‘Unlike the big banks, we’re here to stay.’

Unlike the fictional character it created for its advert, Nationwide is dead right about Windsor. This glorious Royal town lost its last banks just over six months ago when Barclays and HSBC shut their branches within a day of each other. Other banks – Lloyds, Metro, NatWest, and Santander – had long deserted the town.

As a result, Nationwide is the last ‘bank’ standing and as part of a pledge made last June, it will not be leaving Windsor or any other town or City it has a presence in until at least 2026. The only other bank to have made anything resembling a similar pledge on branches is HSBC which said late last year that it would not announce any more closures this year. So far, it has been true to its word.

Spot on: Dominic West in the Nationwide TV ad and, right, the sign outside Windsor

I trust Nationwide will soon be putting up similar signs in towns where it is now the last ‘bank’ standing. According to long-standing community bank campaigner Derek French, Windsor is one of 37 largish towns (with populations more than 15,000) where Nationwide is the only ‘bank’ present.

Bizarrely, says French, these 37 towns should all qualify for a banking hub (a community bank funded by all the big banking brands). But because Nationwide is still in town, the banks won’t fund them.

Shameful.

As for the Nationwide TV advert that has annoyed the banks so much, Santander has filed a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). It argues that the advert is misleading about banks closing branches – and both denigrates and discredits competitors.

On Friday, the ASA told me that its investigation into the complaints surrounding Nationwide’s advertising campaign was ‘ongoing’.

Although the advert is a little bit naughty, especially when Mr West mocks a customer who wants to speak to a branch manager over the loss of his life savings (‘total yawn fest’), I trust the ASA decides that Nationwide has no case to answer.

Why? First, Nationwide is right to mock the banks for closing branches. Since cash machine network Link started compiling a list of closure announcements in early February 2022, 1,325 branches have either shut or been told that they are shutting sometime soon.

Of these, only 22 are Nationwide (all pre the June 2023 pledge). While Santander has only announced six closures over the same period, it did shut 111 in 2021.

Secondly, isn’t it great to watch a financial advert that for once makes you laugh rather than yawn out loud. I would rather watch Dominic West’s pompous banker any day over horses (admittedly beautiful on the eye) galloping across the Sussex countryside in an effort to convince us that Lloyds will always be by our side.

A branch befitting the Bard… 

Like many of you, I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to bank branches – former ones and existing premises.

Quite often, I marvel at their architectural magnificence and their imposing presence on the high street.

Such was the case eight days ago when I spent a pleasant afternoon nosing around Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, visiting the home that William Shakespeare was brought up in and the nearby church (Holy Trinity) where he is buried. 

Iconic: The stunning HSBC branch in Stratford

While wandering the streets, I was struck by the presence of all the big banks in the town: Barclays, NatWest (located in a building rather out of kilter with the rest of the town), Lloyds and Santander.

Good for Stratford I say. Long may they stay open.

But it was the imposing HSBC branch that took my breath away – a massive Victorian gothic building built of red brick and terracotta.

I haven’t seen a branch quite as striking in a while – and it remains open for business (until at least the end of this year, hopefully even longer).

The branch’s roots go back to 1810 when the Stratford Old Bank was established by three local businessmen.

The firm issued its own notes, adorned with an image of the bard’s head.

Indeed, the words ‘Old Bank’ remain over its front door to this day with a mosaic of the bard just below.

The branch eventually became part of Midland (the precursor to HSBC) in 1914 and remains on the schedule of many Shakespeare walking tours that take place daily in the town.

The branch is a listed building and it is to HSBC’s credit that it has maintained its integrity, even when undergoing a refurbishment four years ago.

• Is there a bank branch that strikes an architectural chord with you? If so, do drop me an email at jeff.prestridge@mailonsunday.co.uk.

Window on chaos in Brum… 

It was lovely to spend some time after my mum’s funeral ten days ago reacquainting myself with Birmingham, the city I grew up in.

Highlights of the day included a visit to Birmingham Cathedral which I have walked past at least 200 times without ever once stepping inside.

To stand and marvel at the four exquisite stained-glass windows, designed by pre-Raphaelite artist (and Brummie) Edward Burne-Jones, was a joyous experience. They are spell-binding.

I also enjoyed the Victorian Radicals exhibition at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery where more of Burne-Jones’s sublime work (paintings rather than stained-glass) were on display.

The exhibition runs until the end of October and is well worth every penny of the £11 entry fee.

Birmingham has progressed since I left at the age of 18 for academia and ultimately the bright lights of London.

It is therefore distressing to learn that Labour-run Birmingham City Council has got itself into a terrible financial pickle which will result in near double-digit increases in council tax bills next month – and savage budget cuts.

Nothing will be spared – adult social care, children’s services, support for the arts and local libraries.

What a great shame. The Labour council’s mismanagement, perpetuated by Government funding cuts, now threatens the City’s very fabric.

A portent of the future under a free-spending, tax-heavy Labour government? Only time will tell.