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Leicester
Charles Street Drive in in 1959 (above) and as briefly uncovered by building
work in 1993 (right, image courtesy Rob Hancock). |
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Drive on through… |
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Six years on,
and once drive-in banking has become much less of an experiment - more a way
of life, Martins Bank Magazine asks Sylvia Butterworth and Maureen, Lovett -
the REAL drive-in girls at Charles
Street Leicester (pictured above) - to tell readers in their own words about
the ups and downs and everyday running of this unusual Branch. Given that these are the days where petrol
has a high lead content, it makes you wonder if any of the staff were damaged
by being effectively trapped in a tunnel full of noxious emissions! Life at the Drive-In…
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Above
and right: Vehicles drive the length of the building to reach the cashier’s
window. This allows for orderly
queueing to take place, and provides the best shelter for the motorist from
adverse weather conditions. When the transactions are complete the motorist
can exit straight back onto the road. |
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Cars can be temperamental and involve their drivers in
embarrassing situations as on the day when, through the window, we saw a lady
and gentleman exchanging names and addresses, presumably of insurance
companies for both cars were slightly scratched, while a third car waited
patiently to use the banking facility just out of its driver's reach. The
cashier can extend or retract the drawer at will but if the drawer is left
out for more than a few moments it very wisely retracts automatically.
Despite encouragement by word and printed leaflet to prepare cheques and
paying-in slips before arrival,
this may not always be possible. One cannot do these things while halted at
traffic lights, for example, and thus the customer, hastily completing his
signature, may notice the drawer receding and decide on a last minute effort
to catch the post. So far we have, by careful manipulation, avoided the
additional presentation of a glove which from a cashiering viewpoint would
not be strictly negotiable. The early days… |
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THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT OPENS THE DRIVE-IN |
PUNCH MAGAZINE SEES THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE IDEA |
BANKING BY SCOOTER CATCHES ON QUICKLY AT THE DRIVE-IN |
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BUSINESS IS BRISK ON OPENING DAY |
TWO CASHIERS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE |
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Weather plays a considerable part in the operation of the
drive-in bank. Any covered passage-way will act as a wind tunnel and a
gusting Force 8 can, by a peculiar shift of power and direction, create
sufficient over-draught to absorb the biggest cheque. This happened once when
the drawer was retracting, the cheque being whisked into the main street. For
one horrible moment customer and cashier stared at each other in
consternation, then the cashier acted. Another member of the staff set off in
pursuit of the cheque while the cashier allayed the worst fears of the
customer. Between gusts the cheque was retrieved and re-presented. Rain often
presents a problem as people naturally wish to avoid getting wet. Our
drive-in—and probably our drive-out as well, though we cannot see it
—becomes a public shelter for pedestrians, mothers with perambulators, and
watchful policemen with deceptively docile dogs. All of them indulge in a
restless variation of 'family coach' on the arrival of each car. Humans are
not alone in seeking sanctuary with us. For more than a week a cat became
lodged in the roof of the drive-in, refusing to be enticed from its new-found
home by the persuasiveness of an R.S.P.C.A. inspector, or by a tin of
sardines generously provided by a member of the staff. Eventually, at dead of
night, it responded to the combined charms of the Manager, the Messenger and
its owner. |
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A
LARGE NUMBER OF PUBLICITY SHOTS ARE
TAKEN ON THE OPENING DAY… |
…SO
PERHAPS THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT HAS AN
INCREDIBLE FEELING OF DÉJÀ VU? |
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But cars provide our greatest interest, particularly the rare ones
which speed in from the exit in playful defiance of all the signs. Others for
some unfathomable reason find it possible to transfer or assign their effect
on our photo-electric beam, so that they arrive at our window unheralded but
cause an unsuspecting passer-by to produce an excruciating noise on our
buzzer. And, of course, there are the cars which, when switched off while the
customer transacts his business, later refuse to start. Through the cashier's window one can only smile encouragingly or
register sympathy. Anything one might say in such circumstances would be
wrong— things like 'Have you switched on ?' To the increasingly harassed
customer the smile must seem more like a leer, and the look of sympathy one
of disdain, but at the drive-in bank one quickly learns to be tactful. And so
far the point has never been reached where we had to go out and push or
telephone a garage for a tow. Taken all round our drive-in bank runs very
smoothly both for our customers, who like it, and for us, who find it so
interesting. What became of the Leicester Drive-In? As drive-in banks don’t seem to be have been around for
the last few decades, we wondered about the fate of Martins’ pioneering
efforts at Leicester. We asked our
friends at Barclays Group Archives what happened following the merger with
Barclays…
This means that Drive-in Banking at Leicester ran for 29
years, 1959-1988 – not bad for an experiment!
In 1993, when the Barclays signs are taken down in Leicester, Martins’
own signage is revealed intact and certainly not looking out of place. We are grateful to our friend Rob Hancock,
a former Barclays Operations Manager, who took this picture: |
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Image
© Rob Hancock 1993 to date Rob
says: {This picture was taken during the alterations to the branch to ready
it for re-opening as a branch of the Derbyshire Building Society. Sadly, that
era did not last very long and the place is now operating as some ethnic food
supermarket. The Drive-in section was already separated into a lock-up with
two parking spaces at the back and this continues.} Rob
has recently unearthed some more images of Charles Street, this time from the
mid to late 1980s. The first shows the
branch once more displaying its beautifully carved Martins Bank signage, during
a refurbishment under Barclays’ Customer Service Programme. The second shows the slight damage caused
to the rear entrance of the Drive-in bank, by a Mini crashing into it on a
Sunday morning!. Rob also recalls these events for us: Image © 1985 Rob Hancock {This picture is taken
during some refurbishment work in the mid-80s as part of the “CSP” (Customer
Service Programme) cosmetic upgrades to certain branches. At this stage, the outside signage had been
removed ready for replacement with the then latest style, but revealing
MARTINS underneath! } Image © 1985 Rob Hancock {This picture is taken
in the mid to late 80s and as Branch Operationss Manager, I received a Sunday
morning call-out from the local Police about an incident at my branch. I
arrived to find a Mini embedded in the rear folding doors to the Drive-In, no
passengers still about, or apparently harmed. I never got to discover whether
this was a crude attempt at a ram-raid or just careless driving! Whatever, the car was dragged away and
after some shoving and kicking, these concertina doors were pushed clear to
one side. So they remained for the remainder of the branch`s existence – the
front portcullis grille to Charles Street was still useable so we could close
off the roadway out of hours but the area now provided an accessible covered
place for unsocial activities and modest vandalism – what signage that was
left in here soon disappeared. The Drive-In was closed down not long
afterwards, the space then remaining to provide parking for Management based
nearby. Charles Street branch itself
ceased to exist a couple of years after that.}
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Sp1