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  Hanley receives its first taste
of Lewis’s Department Stores in 1934, when the wonderful building in the
advertisement shown below, plays host to this British Shopping Phenomenon.
“Pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap” does not do justice to Lewis’s methods of
trading; from the start they care noe only about value for money for their
customers, but also for the creation of a shopping “experience” where it is
possible to stay all day in the store, to shop, to eat, to be entertained,
and from 1928, to bank. The Hanley
store Bank Counter is featured here on the right of the page, the photograph
– from Martins Bank Archive Collections – was taken for publicity purposes
when the store opened in 1934.
Lewis’s Hanley moves to new
premises in 1964, and you can see an altogether different incarnation of the
building itself, towards the end of this page. Martins Bank Magazine visits Lewis’s Bank
Hanley in its original site, at the beginning of 1960. Describing Hanley as
“classless” and with “no barriers”, the Magazine is also surprised at how
young the Branch Manager is, marvelling at how quickly he appears to have
made it to the top. In our second
feature - which is from 1962 – you can
read about three members of the same family, all of whom work for
Lewis’s Bank at Hanley. (This is not
something that was tolerated by most of the larger banks, right up to the end
of the twentieth century, for fear that such relatives, particularly a
married couple, might collude in fraudulent activity!)
  We visited the Hanley
branch of Lewis's Bank Ltd., on 29th January, 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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