A Banking Hub Is Coming to Tonbridge
For nearly 200 years bank buildings have added style and stability to our high streets. But that’s been changing. Technology, the inefficiencies of those beautiful old buildings, and significant reductions in the number of people using them, meant a wave of closures.
In Tonbridge we’ve lost Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC and Halifax.
Some of us have got used to online banking and paying for that coffee with our phone. But that doesn’t work for everyone. There are many people who struggle to cope with technology, or don’t choose to use those options, and for them local banking services, a person to speak to, or a counter to do banking transactions, is an essential.
If we want our High Street business to continue taking cash they need to be able to easily bank takings and get change for their till. That’s become a struggle for many of them in recent years and this impacts on our community.
We can’t force banks to continue running those bank branches that are hardly used. If only there was a way for banks to provide banking services in a shared space – somewhere modern and efficient to run, and where we can talk face to face with actual real banking people. If instead of multiple banks each operating large buildings – why couldn’t they share the cost of a smaller and more practical space?
The great news is that’s exactly what Tonbridge is getting.
After an 18-month campaign we finally have approval for a Banking Hub in Tonbridge. A shared banking space with counter services - for personal and business account holders - plus people from a range of banks we can talk to in private.
We’ve got this because of a community campaign.
Many of you will know about the Tonbridge Needs Access to Cash Facebook page which describes the journey of this campaign. It’s something we at Tonbridge Civic Society have strongly supported.
Now the hunt is on for a location.
A company called Cash Access UK is responsible for setting up the hub and it’s looking for the right space. Somewhere large enough for counter(s) and a private room which is in a central and easy to access location. But don’t expect it to look like a traditional bank, those big buildings were fine 100 years ago but nowadays face to face banking is very different. Take a look at the Humphrey Bean, that used to be our post office – it’s a lovely building but it wouldn’t be the right space for a modern post office.
Cash Access has already set up 150 hubs so it knows what it’s doing and things are going to move quickly – our temporary hub is expected to be up and running next month. If you want to know more, representatives are visiting the town on Monday 12 May so why not pop along to The Market House anytime between 10am-12.30pm for a chat.