My old boss bought an ex bank premises and turned it into a restaurant, aptly called "The Old Bank Restaurant". From memory, the vault area was the kitchen and they had a nightmare getting utilities into it because of the walls.Do high street banks actually have a "vault" these days....make a decent man cave.
Former banks question.
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"If we produced a UK central bank digital currency, that would not happen. Our currency would be reliable and retain its value over time."
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The Natwest in Whitchurch needed a couple of days notice to hand me £25K in cash, so if they did have a vault, God knows what they kept in it. Barclays were a lot better and just needed the period for the safe timer to count down.
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Probably did have a float amount similar to that but obvs didn't want to pay it all out to a single customer, also likely unsorted deposits of cash by small business owners etc.. as someone else pointed out is a reason to use a bank branch:
I'd disagree re: the restaurant example, it's just as easy these days with portable card readers to split via card. I think small businesses stuck in the past are perhaps one of the few use cases for still requiring bank branches, larger businesses can of course have a security van arrive and take away the unsorted cash or indeed deliver fresh notes and coins as and when required but small businesses might well want to use the counter when open or post things through the slot for the "night safe" (if those are still a thing) or indeed just use a deposit machine in the 24 hour ATM vestibule.
That alone isn't really a reason to keep branches open so I can certainly see banks wanting to close down more, my local branch for my bank doesn't have counters anymore; there are ATMs and deposit machines and there's a member of staff present to just assist with inquiries both with people using the machines or people coming in for a meeting with a financial advisor or mortgage advisor (which is probably the main thing keeping such a branch profitable or keeping it from losing too much) or indeed a staff member to open an account or arrange a loan. There just isn't any need for the regular counter, in cases where they do exist (even just over 20 years ago when I did my work experience) it was just elderly people and idiots stuck in the past doing things they could have simply done at the row of machines or online (making payments, checking balance, withdrawing or depositing cash).
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I worked for Yorkshire Bank and the branch there had a massive strong room - similar size to a medium sized lift in a hotel. People kept wills, deeds and jewellery in them. It was storage service YB provided. When a customer needed to access their contents, two of us had to be with them for security. One time I remember doing this was an Asian lady taking various items of jewellery for a wedding - they do wear loads of jewellery for weddings. Another customers' jewellery was in a sports holdall with a combination padlock on it. Very secure - not!
If a customer wanted a certain amount of money or denomination, we had to order this.
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The RBS in Stafford (near to Picture House Wetherspoon) got made into a Jobcentre Plus after a few years of it being empty.
Going further back than 5 years, Santander took over Alliance & Leicester and Abbey National. Stafford had both, so when the changeover happened, Santander kept the A&L branch and ditched Abbey National. I think that became a Pandora (jewellery shop).
Going further back than 5 years, Santander took over Alliance & Leicester and Abbey National. Stafford had both, so when the changeover happened, Santander kept the A&L branch and ditched Abbey National. I think that became a Pandora (jewellery shop).