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The centenary of Natwest’s first railway station bank


A century in the past, on tenth January 1924, the forerunner of the NatWest financial institution opened its first-ever department inside a railway station – at Waterloo station. And so widespread was it that just some years later, they opened a second department close by, in Victoria station.

The Sphere, ninth February 1929 – through the British Newspaper Archive

Each have lengthy since closed and whereas it’s exhausting to identify the stays of the Waterloo department as we speak, the Victoria station department is a major landmark inside the station that most individuals most likely by no means realise was as soon as a financial institution.

The telltale signal {that a} constructing was as soon as a financial institution, even after the indicators have been eliminated, is one thing that’s typically an excessive amount of problem to take away — and that’s the Night time Protected that permits the financial institution’s industrial prospects to deposit money on the financial institution when it’s closed. It was noticing the night time secure on the Victoria station that triggered some analysis and discovering that now’s the centenary of the Waterloo department opening.

In reality, as we speak marks the centenary of Waterloo station getting a financial institution contained in the railway station itself.  The financial institution was opened by the Nationwide Provincial Financial institution, which is the predecessor of as we speak’s NatWest Financial institution, and the thought of opening a department contained in the railway station was sufficiently radical that it was highlighted within the financial institution’s annual board assembly just a few weeks after it opened as a brand new experiment the financial institution was attempting out.

The Nationwide Provincial Financial institution was created in 1833, and expanded quickly, though its first department in London didn’t open till 1866; it modified its title in 1918, and again once more to the Nationwide Provincial in 1924. By the Sixties, it was thought of one of many “large 5” banks within the UK, and in 1970, it merged with Westminster Financial institution, changing into NatWest.

Again to Waterloo station, though the financial institution is lengthy gone, you’ll be able to nonetheless see the unique financial institution signal for those who lookup, though you wouldn’t have till just lately because the signal was hid behind a blue Worldwide Forex Alternate signal. Once they moved out, the forex alternate signal was eliminated, revealing the Nationwide Provincial Financial institution title once more.

You too can discover the stays of the Night time Protected across the aspect of the previous financial institution, on the entrance to the station. I can’t discover out precisely when it closed, however the NatWest web site says it was nonetheless open within the Nineties.

Elsewhere, common guests to Victoria station may need famous the grand wanting Forex Alternate and perhaps puzzled what the constructing was initially.

This was the second railway station department opened by the Nationwide Provincial Financial institution, and you’ll see the financial institution because it was in 1958 within the background of this photograph. It survived lengthy sufficient to be photographed as a NatWest Financial institution in 1972.

The Victoria department might have been busier as each branches had been marketed as being a comfort for travellers wanting to purchase overseas forex and travellers’ cheques, and whereas each stations had trains to the coast to catch ships, Victoria station was far and away the busier for that kind of worldwide site visitors.

The Victoria department additionally appeared in adverts of the time, not like the Waterloo department.

In contrast to Waterloo, all vestiges that this constructing may need been a financial institution have been eliminated, however for those who peer across the aspect, you could find the clue — because the Night time Protected remains to be there, hidden away from informal view.

There nonetheless is a NatWest presence within the station, though it’s now only a set of cashpoints subsequent to the bogs. However as we speak marks the centenary of NatWest’s lengthy experiment in placing financial institution branches in railway stations with its first one at London Waterloo.

1929 postcard

This text was revealed on ianVisits

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Source : https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the-centenary-of-natwests-first-railway-station-bank-69163/

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