Graham, Tom and Ian

Your Lib Dem team for Cheadle West & Gatley Learn more

Keith slams Barclays over branch closure

by Lib Dem team on 14 July, 2015

Cllr Keith Holloway has slammed Barclays for refusing to help Gatley residents who face losing the last bank in the village after meeting with the company.

Barclays plan to close their branch – the last bank in Gatley – on 21st August. Cllr Holloway’s petition opposing the closure has been signed by over a thousand people, but so far the bank is refusing the budge.

“Barclays are keen to parade their community credentials – right up to the moment it might cost them some money.” Cllr Holloway said. “When the branch closes, traders will no longer be able to pay in cash in the village. The bank claims elderly people can all switch to online banking but the two ‘tea and teach’ sessions they’ve held in the village have been a complete failure with not a single person turning up.”

Cllr Holloway and a Gatley Village Partnership representative met with Barclays on Monday 13th July but the meeting was fruitless.

“We went into the meeting keen to discuss how Barclays could support the 9,000 residents of Gatley. I was very disappointed that they were unwilling to even discuss options.” Keith said.

Keith, Liberal Democrat councillor for Cheadle and Gatley, has vowed to continue the campaign.

   16 Comments

16 Responses

  1. That was a very dramatic post. I agree that Barclays have offered to even try and do anything though – or very little at least.

    Not that it’s surprising – it’s a bank. Bottom line is all that matters and Gatley isn’t profitable. Big shame for the traders and pensioners.

    Barclays have failed a lot in advertising those tea and teach mornings too. They’re target market isn’t online – which is the only place they’ve bothered to advertise as far as I can tell.

  2. bob says:

    Out of 9000 people who Cllr Holloway says the bank could support, only 1000 signed a petion so thats 1 in 9 people who lets say bank at Barclays. The other 8 either bank somewhere else or are not fussed. That give a clear picture of why Barclays are closing! people simply don’t use banks the way they used too. Quite simply you have done Barclays market research for them free of charge. As for the “tea and teach session” where no one turned up, this could be a good indication that the older generation has moved to online banking or it’s marketing campagin has failed. Was it held on the same day as the local bingo? Who knows.

    Maybe Cllr Holloway should ask Taylor Swift to write a letter to Barclays like she did with Apple.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Absolutely not, Bob. Having one in nine people signing a petition is almost unheard of – imagine a national petition signed by more than six million people (it’s never even nearly happened).

      Of the 9,000 people who live in Gatley quite a lot are children of course, but of the rest many simply haven’t had the chance to sign. When we’ve knocked on doors, we’ve found around 90% of people sign the petition. Similarly, traders in the village who took the petition tell us that they easily filled up the forms and ran out of space for people to sign.

      Barclays know this of course. They also know that their promotion of “tea and teach” has been poor – little more than a couple of posters in the branch.

  3. phil says:

    Shame about shutting the branch but big business again just looking at profit. If their arguement for closing it is people now bank on line then why keep the Cheadle branch open? Anyway on the positive side another curry house for Gatley!

  4. Bruce says:

    How many of the 1000 were Barclays customers?

    How can non-customers of Barclays justifiably complain about this closure?

  5. Philip thomas says:

    Dump the bank there robbers anyway

  6. Phil Johnson says:

    GVP were at the meeting with Keith, and they say the business case for closure was compelling. Barclays confirmed that only 10% of Gatley residents are their customers and that footfall has reduced by 25% over 3 years.
    Are you saying that 100% of traders are Barclays customers?

  7. Jane says:

    A couple of days ago Barclay’s was the ONLY cash machine in the village that was working. Tesco AND Co-op were both out of order. Again this morning, Tesco cash machine wasn’t giving out cash, didn’t even bother with the Co-op, just drove on in my car to Cheadle.

  8. Halifax says:

    Phil you write ‘Shame about shutting the branch but big business again just looking at profit’

    But that was a business is supposed to do, if it didn’t make a profit, it soon wouldn’t be a business.

  9. Halifax says:

    Iain – It sound great to quote £2.26 billion profit, and it sounds like a huge number, but it is only relevant when compared to the working capital employed. Any idea what that was?

    And the profit will go to pay shareholders, many of which will be pension funds.

    And how many Gatley’s are there (in that I mean small towns with a branch that loses money.

  10. Malcolm says:

    How can you pay in cheques via the internet ?
    I have to pay in cheques that members of our association send
    to pay their subscriptions.

  11. Halifax says:

    Malcolm,

    Why can’t you send them by post, or move your account to a bank with a branch in Cheadle?

  12. Halifax says:

    Iain – I have just read the Barclays’ financial report for 2014, and you have been at bit economical with the data you choose to use.

    The £2.26 Billion profit was before tax, after tax the profit was £845 million (quite a difference – but lets not let the facts get in the way of an excuse to attack the banks). Which I suspect is a modest return on capital invested.

  13. Stuart Thompson says:

    Now that Gatley is becoming a bank-free zone, we have to watch what is happening in Cheadle. The first banking group to leave Cheadle was HSBC, just over a year ago. As an account holder with First Direct, that was the place that I went to when I had business that required face to face contact. Unfortunately, the nearest remaining branches are in Didsbury and Stockport. Travelling to these is a waste of time, and normally requires me to use public transport as parking is inconvenient in both places.

    I now carry out more transactions online. Paying in cheques requires postage and postpones the time at which funds are credited to my account. The biggest problem is obtaining cash. I am averse to standing in front of an ATM on the street unless I am aware who is around. Cheadle has become a muggers paradise as uniformed police officers patrolling on foot have been a rare sight since the 2010 General Election and are likely to become rarer still. Luckily, many shops are willing to give cash back when I make a purchase. I use a debit card for this purpose so that they do not have to bear the costs of a credit card transaction. It benefits the trader because they have less cash on the premises and are therefore less attractive to criminals planning potential hold-ups.

    I recently tried to withdraw cash from inside banks where I do not have an account. Only NatWest had an ATM within the branch and it was broken! Barclays and Lloyds had no ATM inside their branches and were unwilling to give me money over the counter though they would let me use their ATMs on the street. They suggested that I opened an account with them. I am pleased to report that Cheadle Post Office was willing to give me cash over the counter. Their service has improved considerably since W H Smith started to run the branch. Procedures have changed for the better and with largely the same staff as before, relations between staff and customers seem to proceed more smoothly and amicably. Well done to all concerned!

Leave a Reply to Phil Johnson

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>