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  Hanley
receives its first taste of Lewis’s Department Stores in 1934, when the
wonderful building in this advert (also shown below) plays host to this
British Shopping Phenomenon. The store is moved to new premises in 1964, and
you can see this altogether different incarnation towards the end of this
page. Martins Bank Magazine visits
Hanley at the beginning of 1960, describing the town as “classless” and with
“no barriers”. Our second feature
- which is from 1962 - concerns three
members of the same family all of whom work for Lewis’s Bank at Hanley…
 We visited the Hanley
branch of Lewis's Bank Ltd., on January 29th, and found it a new and
interesting experience. When visiting new branches we often hear the same
remark from managers, no matter in what part of the country the branch is. It
is to the effect that English people seem to display a reserve towards a
newcomer and there is a barrier which has to be broken down before a new
branch can forge ahead. Hanley is one of
the places where this does not seem to apply. It is a classless place and
there are no artificial barriers.  As a consequence, it is a most friendly
place and one is immediately struck by this. Lewis's
store in Hanley is quite different from those in the other towns we have
visited. It is much smaller, not nearly so crowded and very compact. It is
less impersonal than the big modern stores and one feels the friendliness of
the place. The bank is a tiny bank, pushed into a corner, short of space and,
in a way, makeshift. Even so, it has more floor space than when it started in
1946 on the floor above. Our biggest surprise was meeting Mr. B. G. Hook, the
Manager. Mr. Hook is the youngest manager in Lewis's Bank and he must also be
younger than any manager in Martins Bank, and no one can surely have received
a managerial appointment after so short a career, and while still engaged in
completing Part I of his Institute of Bankers' Examinations. He entered the
Bank in December, 1955, at Leeds, after doing his military service with the
Royal Artillery in the Suez Canal Zone, 1954-1955, and was appointed Manager at
Hanley in June, 1959.
 Apart from the fact
that Mr. Hook is a very presentable and obviously capable young man, the
moral of the story seems to be that in a bank whose staff is about 95 %
female, opportunities for promotion for the few males who manage to gain
entry are very bright indeed. In fact, in Martins Bank as a whole the chances
of a young man gaining an appointment are now one in two for the same reason,
a very big improvement over the past few years.
Two of
the three girls on the staff are sisters. The elder one, Mrs. Mary Martin, is
also the senior girl and has been in the bank over four years. The younger
one, Miss Maureen Doyle, shares the work of the counter with Miss Maureen
Heames. All three girls started in the store and were then selected for the
bank.
There is no separate children's counter at this
branch, though there is a separate section of children's ledgers. The space
available doesn't permit of two counters and the cashiers are well able to
deal with all classes of customer, especially as the children tend to do
their business on Saturdays and during the holidays. We were able to study
the customer relationship and were impressed with the obviously friendly bond
existing between staff and customers.
These girls have nothing to learn from the American film on customer
relationship now being shown round the branches. Quiet, respectful, friendly
and competent—this about sums them
up. The banking hours here and at Glasgow are from 10 a.m.—4 p.m. The extra hour is an anomaly which at times has proved
burdensome.
Before so very many years have passed the whole
store will be rebuilt and made into a really modern store. There is little
doubt that the opportunity will be taken of planning the branch of the bank
on a much more satisfactory scale, but we feel quite sure that the quality of
service is in no danger of needing improving. It was a pleasure to visit the
branch.
Martins Bank Magazine pays one more visit to
Lewis’s Bank Hanley in 1962. This time
the focus is on the number of staff working at the branch who are related to
each other! Our Lewis’s Staff Records
show that Mr B G Hook, who is mentioned above as the high flying and
particularly young Manager at Hanley, tenders his resignation in the Summer
of 1963, but no reason is given.
  Some months ago our
attention was drawn to the fact that the majority of the staff of girls at
Lewis's Bank Ltd., Hanley, were related. When we visited the branch and
subsequently featured it in the Magazine we mentioned that two of the girls
there were sisters. The number has now grown to three! Mrs. Mary Martin, (on
the left) the senior clerk, has been there since 1954: Miss Maureen Doyle,
(in the middle) now first cashier, has been at the branch since 1957, and
Miss Teresa Doyle (on the right) entered the service in 1960.
The picture
on the left, of a newly built Lewis’s Department Store at Hanley dates from
1964 when the business relocates to a building whose looks, whilst
progressive and typical of the time, are nevertheless disappointing when
compared to the original store. You can read
more about Lewis’s Department Store in Hanley in our special feature
by clicking HERE. The Potteries.org web site goes into much more detail and includes
some fascinating images of changes to the town’s shopping area.
www.thepotteries.org
Our thanks to the potteries.org for the use of several images on this
page of our Archive.
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