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 It is probably fair to say that those who can
remember July of 1969, will most likely recall the Moon Landing as the most
significant event of that month, that year, indeed of the whole decade.
Nevertheless, for tens of thousands of people, the first week of July 1969
means that an argument which has rumbled on for at least one hundred years,
has finally been settled – British Banks will now CLOSE on Saturdays, at long last
providing a full weekend for staff. In
this special feature, we look at many of the attempts that were made to
shorten or abolish Saturday banking hours, and we also have the personal
recollections of two people – one a Martins employee, the other a Barclays
colleague - who were there in 1969, and can tell us about the impact of a
move which the eleven clearing banks were finally compelled to make under
intense pressure from the trade unions.
The victory does however seem remarkably short-lived, as Barclays
becomes the first bank to RE-OPEN on Saturdays just thirteen years later!
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1868 – A small victory…
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We begin with this notice published in the
Brighton Guardian newspaper on 15 April 1868, one hundred and one years
before the abolition of Saturday Banking. This local “victory” has only
shaved about three hours from the drudge of working on a Saturday at a few
local banks. Six long days’ opening
for a variety of businesses and industries is a reality, the concept of
“the weekend” not yet fully realised, and with Sunday taken up with Church,
the ideas of free time and striking a work-life balance are still a long
way off. Now, we move forward ten
years, to an extract from the London Illustrated News, where a Bank Clerk
writes eloquently on the subject of Saturday working.
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1868 – “rounded shoulders and pale faces”…
The article below is published on 6 July 1878,
and by this time is seems that banks are closing at three in the afternoon
on Saturday, but the workload keeps staff at their desks well beyond that
time. Note how the author cleverly argues that other workers are finishing
work earlier than bank staff, and that these people are more likely to be
worrying about their journey home, than popping into the bank of a Saturday
afternoon. He asks the question “Is it wonderful that there are round
shoulders and pale faces behind the desks scowling at late customers on
Saturday Afternoons?” Comparison is
also drawn with the provinces, where banks can close from twelve noon
onwards, and our grumpy bank clerk demands to know just why the London
banks have to be different!
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{A word may in conclusion be permitted in
reference to a very old grievance under which the employees of the London
banks have long groaned, one of the few real grievances now left in the
remedying of which (for it is surely capable of remedy) some reformer may
earn grateful laurels—I refer to the Saturday half-holiday movement. It
does seem somewhat strange that while workmen throw aside their tools at
twelve o’clock, and merchants, and merchants’ clerks, are hurrying from the
City to catch two o’clock trains for suburban fields and lanes, that
bank-clerks should have to toil over their ledgers and cash-books till four
o’clock (although the banks close at three o’clock to the public, an hour’s
work remains to be done by the majority of employees) and frequently later.
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This in winter means reaching home tired and
jaded every working day of the week after dark. Is it wonderful that there are rounded
shoulders and pale faces behind the desks scowling at late customers on
Saturday afternoons? Why is it that in the provinces, in cities, towns, and
country villages, the banks can close on Saturdays at hours varying from
twelve to two o’clock, while the London banks find it imperative to remain
open till three o’clock ? Allowing for the obvious reason of the vastness of the business
transacted in the City as compared with the largest provincial towns, it is
a fact that the same efforts to attain the end in view are not employed}.
1884 to 1911 Still no consensus…
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The Driffield Times, 29 March 1884
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In YORK (left) Saturday opening is
restricted to just the morning, whilst in GLOUCESTER (above) a single hour is
cut, and staff must still serve customers until 4pm on Saturdays. Meanwhile
the banks in AYLESBURY (below) make the case for also keeping staff
at their desks until at least 4pm.
The Gloucestershire Journal 3 December 1904
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As a result of the sheer number of tiny local
banks, the position ahead of the mergers and acquisitions of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth Centuries renders a policy on the opening of
banks on a Saturday completely arbitrary. Thus, the difference between the
working hours of staff in some parts of the country compared with those in
other areas, must have seemed grossly unfair.
The situation will also surely have been be
confusing for customers, who must have had to check local opening times
whenever they visited a different town or city. By the beginning of the
twentieth century, banking hours finally begin to settle, and the majority
open between the hours of ten in the morning until three in the afternoon,
and usually no more than three hours from nine or nine thirty on a
Saturday. Some banks, including
Martins express within their rules a “wish” that staff be allowed one or
more Saturdays off each month, but this system is difficult to administer.
We understand that this also led to a kind of favouritism being shown to
those who took part in a sport in which they represented the bank.
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 The Bucks
Herald, 24 June 1911
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1961 The demands are tabled…
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Although the closure on Saturdays of the
branches of all the Banks in England and Wales is not implemented until
1969, the National Union of Banking employees (NUBE) starts their campaign
EIGHT YEARS earlier - in 1961 - following a move that year by the banks to harmonise
Saturday closure at 11.30am, but with an earlier opening time of 9am.
This report from the Coventry Evening Telegraph of 16 June 1961,
takes up the story…
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{The National Union of Bank Employees wants to see all banks closed
on Saturdays.
That is what they mean by their policy of a 35-hour five day week
according to a statement by the national executive on the changed Saturday
banking hours.
The statement says “Any slight advantage to the staff arising
through earlier closing will be more than offset by the need for attendance
at branches before 9am. We have in mind the preparatory work that has to be
undertaken before the branches open to the public at that hour.
“we fear that the new opening hours will result in a concentration
of that public business hitherto conducted between 11am and 12 noon into
the half-hour between 11am and 11.30am.
Closing time is more important than opening time.
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1968 Agreement is reached…
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At long last, the wishes of the Banking Union
and their counterparts in the many Staff Association groups in the eleven
clearing banks, have been granted.
Huge change is just around the corner:
·
Decimalisation is due in February 1971 and the Government makes it
clear to all banks that plans for the computerisation of customers’
accounts must be in place, with computers working and able to handle the
new decimal currency.
·
Two major banking mergers within two years will see the demise of
Martins Bank into Barclays, and the merger of the National Provincial Bank,
the District Bank AND the Westminster Bank to form NatWest.
·
Crucially, cash machines, which were trialled first in the world by
Barclays and Martins within weeks of each other, are seen as an important
weapon in the war against losing customers who want access to their money
on a Saturday:
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 BARCLAYS Bank
Limited, which recently ordered 75 automatic cash dispensing machines from
De La Rue Instruments Limited for its Barclaycash Service, has increased
the order to 250 machines. Delivery of these 'robot cashiers' started last
month and it is planned to have the majority installed and in operation by
the end of June next year. These machines, which enable customers to
withdraw cash from their accounts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, will be
sited to cover areas with the largest population and the greatest number of
accounts, giving the best possible geographic coverage', said Mr. D. M.
Taylor, a General Manager of Barclays Bank.
 'We are spending
over £1 million on the installation of these machines in an effort to
provide a compensatory service for the Saturday closure of branches, due
to come into operation on July 1 next year. 'Every customer within the
Greater London area, and over half of those outside London, will have one
of these machines within three miles of their usual banking
branch. For the remaining customers the nearest machine will be
only a short car journey away.' The Barclaycash Service, developed by
the Bank's Management Services Department in conjunction with De La Rue
Instruments, is designed to dispense £10 against a
special voucher which can be processed in the same way as an ordinary
cheque and debited to the customer's account. The vouchers are valid for six
months and do not have to be paid for in advance. They are issued free to
approved customers, each of whom is allocated a personal code number.
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In exchange for the removal of Saturday opening
hours, the Banks are allowed to open “late” on one day each week (but not
Friday) between 4.30 and 6.00pm.
Monday to Friday hours have half an hour added at each end of the
day, so that most banks will open from 9.30 to 3.30. The staff have a clear
victory, but some customer groups are not too happy - Once again, we turn
to the Coventry Evening Telegraph, this time on 13 September 1968 and 25
October 1968 for the announcement of Saturday closing, and a report detailing
the fears of some retailers regarding the new banking hours.
BANKS TO CLOSE ON SATURDAYS
{Banks throughout Britain are to close on Saturday mornings as from
July 1 next year. There will be
certain exceptions such as banking branches as airports. Announcing this decision, the Committee
of London Clearing Bankers said “It is inherent in this decision that
service to the public from Monday to Friday will be improved by extending
opening hours. The extension of Bank
opening hours from Monday to Friday will be notified in due course. The
decision has been brought about by the increasing difficulty of recruiting
and keeping staff of high calibre and maintaining a first class service
from Monday to Friday”}
RETAILERS FEARS ON BANK HOURS
{A resolution expressing concern that the decision of the banks to
close on Saturdays will create “many problems” for the retail trade is to
be discussed at the National Chamber of Trade’s autumn conference at
Peebles on Monday. It fears that
retailers will be expected to act as “stand-in bankers” to the public, and
calls on the banks to provide “reasonable facilities” to reduce the effects
of their decision.}
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1969 The “weekend” is finally a reality for banking staff…
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 Martins Bank Archive asked
staff who worked for both Martins and Barclays in 1969, to recall for us
just what closing on a Saturday meant to them and the people they worked
with. From the replies we received,
we have picked the following memories…
TONY CLAYTON – MARTINS BANK
{“Saturday closing was something most staff
were most anxious to obtain. It was not just the three hours from 9 to 12,
with the bank opening at 9.30 and closing at 12. We had to prepare for
customer service and when we had closed we had till up plus other book
keeping procedures. It would often 12.45 before we left the bank, though of
course some branches would leave a little earlier. For most that meant that
they had to be at work by 9 and often they would not be home until sometime
after 1pm.
As I recall in the last few months the closing
time was brought forward to 11.30 – that last Saturday one customer living
next door to the bank came in as usual with the late morning crowds about
11.15 or so. He was in his slippers and was carrying his cup of tea and
saucer. In those days drinking in public as today was not done. For us in a
L.C.C. estate the customers were not early risers, many relied upon HP for
their purchases and so the only bank to make their instalment
payments.
Of course our open hours were not suitable for
many if they worked a 5 ½ day week as we did, the 10-3 weekday certainly
did not help. Even with mechanised branches there was much manual work
involved with banking as compared with today’s automation. I believe we had
a 40+ hour week when I joined the bank. Suddenly instead of just instead of
having only half the afternoon free we had an entire day, time when the
staff could enjoy their family and friends, doing things with them.
It was a great improvement to our lives
although for the previous few years we had been allowed a regular day off,
subject to staffing. This was useful, but for many their friends were
working. For us at that time we in the bank seemed to be the only ones
working a 5 1/2 day week and it was something we had looked forward to for
some time. At that stage customers
just seemed to accept it, though more use was made of the night safe
facilities. It was the power of the unions which had helped secure us this
benefit. In those earlier years, for me from 1948, the employees had to
suffer many impositions from those above without much thought to their
staff.
Happily from the 70s onwards it did improve.”}
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The National Union of Bank Employees wanted a
35 hour working week, but by extending the Monday to Friday opening hours
by six and a half hours, getting away from work on time must have been
difficult. The so called “late opening” from 4.30 to 6pm one day each week
did not last very long before most banks scrapped it altogether. A notable exception was the T S B which
still operated extended hours on one day a week until it was taken over by
Lloyds Bank. We asked staff to
recall whether or not they felt that the new 35 hour week actually worked,
and this point was covered by Barclays employee David Singleton, in his
reply as follows:
DAVID SINGLETON – BARCLAYS BANK
 {“I joined Barclays in
1968 as a teenager and remember Saturday morning opening. You had to be in
work at 8.30 am as the doors opened at 9am.I had nearly an hour to travel
to the office so had to leave home about 7.30 on a Saturday. As a teenager
this meant no Friday nights out with friends as I had to be up early! We
were allowed to wear 'Sports jacket and slacks' but since I was a poor
teenager it meant the suit again for me. The waste was held over to the
Monday for posting. Incidentally Martins and Barclays processed waste
differently....Martins credits first and Barclays debits first).
The
branch closed at 12.30pm and we were usually able to leave about 1pm which
for me meant getting home about 2pm and mother having to deal with a second
sitting as it were for lunch. In the week it was rare to be home before 7pm
and so the remainder of Saturday was all you had to do shopping and
haircuts etc. I was transferred to a branch in a neighbouring town which
was worse for travelling and I lost what was called 'Large Town Allowance'
and yet my travel costs went up. It was at this later branch that on July
1st 1969 we closed the doors on Saturday working. {Hurrah!!)
When
late night opening came in I was a cashier and we had a rota to work to the
6pm closing...we did get overtime. Shop keeper customers chose to pay in as
much as they could from that day's takings and often left it to the last
minute before 6pm to pay in large amounts of cash......so we usually left
late to go home. When Saturday working came back in it was optional for
people like me but later it became part of new entrants’ employment
contracts. I never took up Saturday working again because you couldn't go
away for a weekend or guarantee you could attend matches etc.in the
afternoons.
In
your article you enquired about using a 35 hour week however in my
experience you never worked a 35 hour week in practice as overtime was
always necessary. When Saturday opening was in existence in the week
opening hours were 10-3pm and as part of the deal for customers when
Saturday closing took place opening hours were extended 9.30 to 3.30pm
which caused more work and inevitably led to overtime being needed. The TV programme 'Dad's Army' was very
much my experience when I joined the Barclays. I had a very eventful time
in Barclays including being held up at gunpoint......the days before the
cashless society!”}
Our thanks to Tony Clayton and David Singleton.
Some newspaper Images reproduced
with kind permission of
The
British Newspaper Archive www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
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