Commenting Shaw Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris Gloster stated.
The closure of the Royal Bank of Scotland is yet another blow to Shaw Town Centre. When RBS announced the closure of the Oldham Branch late last year, I wrote to the Chief Executive of RBS asking him to consider extending the opening times of the Shaw Branch which is currently operating on a three day week, especially in view of the imminent closure of Barclay’s Bank in Shaw. They declined this request.
As it stands Shaw and Crompton will now have no main stream banking services whatsoever other than the Post Office.
It is a sad fact of life that town centre banking services are quickly becoming extinct due to the rise in popularity of Internet banking, convenient for some but highly inconvenient for others, particularly businesses and people without access to the Internet, most commonly the elderly and vulnerable..
Some people simply prefer not to use Internet banking so they are not at risk of increasingly clever Internet fraud.
As an RBS customer myself I am disappointed that after the Yorkshire Bank closed, they canvassed myself and other residents of Shaw and Crompton to open an account at their branch only for them to shortly after reduce hours and now close. The bank is always busy when open so there clearly is demand.
I think RBS have missed a golden opportunity here, all banks want customers, where better to build your client base when you are the only bank in town?
I will again write to RBS outlining my concerns and seek assurances that at a minimum, the RBS cash machine outside Tesco Express on Market Street will be retained, and ascertain what plans they have for the machine currently located outside the Branch.
This is a sad state of affairs for Shaw. It was a thriving town once, what next to close? We should be fighting to get our town back on the map rather than wait for the tumble weeds role through and it become a ghost town.
I agree are others up for the fight as well is the question.
Hi Howard i am disgusted at RBSs decision to close the shaw branch my wife my self and my son have been customers at this branch for over 50 years and it means nothing to them, customers are very low down on the pecking list profit and bonuses are all they worry about. i feel strongly that when they went into meltdown who bailed them out do you not think the government should step in and have a say in how the banks operate because if it had not been for us they would have been out of business
Could not agree more I have been a customer for nearly 40 years.
Shaw will be a ghost town very soon, I lived there for forty seven years, so glad I moved away to Cheshire last year. The village I have moved to boasts six banks and a very busy high street with hardly an empty shop.
You are very lucky and hope it continues.
another nail in the coffin of Shaw look round and all you see is a ghost of what
Shaw used to be ,I thought the idea of a Council was to attract business to town
instead they don’t seem to care and we pay them to do it , or perhaps we have
the wrong sort of people in power ,, Oldham and district was a good place
to live and work but not any more, Oldham Born and Bred
Some of us fight for our district centres. Internet, supermarkets and changing working patterns mean the high street will continue to change. We need to respond to that challenge and make sure it does not become a collection of empty properties.
Shaw became doomed the minute it came under oldham council,it was only a matter of time,where other parts of the borough are having new baths and community centres,we get nothing.
Well done oldham council,Shaw has well and truely been brushed under the carpet!
Carl….
Local politicians are far too mealy-mouthed and need to fight much harder and louder. The town is half-dead already and this will see it off altogether. How can a town of 21,000 people not have a bank? And what is the MP doing about it? As I write this she’s banging on about Syria as usual.The key is this. “Some people simply prefer not to use Internet banking so they are not at risk of increasingly clever Internet fraud.” Directors of financial institutions should be made personally accountable for losses sustained by their customers through online fraud or incompetence. See how quickly they bring back the branch system then. As for me, it’s the final straw. I’m away.