When Leicester were the pioneers!

[davieG]

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Leicester’s pioneering idea saved on parking

By Mr_Leicester  |  Posted: May 02, 2017

   

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Photo: Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

image: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276308/Article/images/30306552/15982176-large.jpg

At the drive-in: Bank cashier Monica Bradley serves a customer at the drive-in branch of St Martin's Bank, on Charles Street, Leicester, in 1959.

 

The 1950s was the decade American-style convenience was introduced into Britain. Self-service supermarkets, where customers did all the leg work, replaced "at your service'' shop staff.

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And, taking the theory further, instead of customer legwork, companies aimed at drivers mileage – with Leicester becoming the first place in Britain to introduce drive-in banking and a post office.

Today, we associate drive-in service chiefly with fast-food outlets. But, there was a period in the 1950s and '60s, when Leicester was a pioneer city – and we took the idea a step further.

We had the first traffic wardens, the first multi-storey car park and the first local radio station – and I discovered, from a news item in the February 1959 edition of the Leicester Graphic, it led the way in another modern trend – but it was one which didn't really catch on.

"At the end of this month, Leicester will become the first city in Great Britain to have a drive-in bank," boasted the Graphic. "This new system of banking, which aims at cutting down parking problems for customers, is being introduced by Martin's Bank, in their new Charles Street branch.

image: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276308/binaries/-1339488296.jpg

Not the first: The McDonalds's drive-through on Wakes Road, Wigston.

"Motorists will be able to drive straight into the bank from Charles Street, and then pull up alongside a large armour-plated bay window, fitted with radio inter-communication.

"The customer will open his car window, and then, speaking to a clerk over the intercom and place his money or cheques in an electrically-operated stainless steel till.

"These will be dealt with by a clerk sitting behind the window and, in the shortest possible time, money or receipts will be returned to the motorist. Although new to this country, drive-in banks are already very popular abroad."

I think this was the only one of its type ever built in Leicester.

Local historian Derek Hollingworth explained in greater detail what happened to the pioneering scheme:

"The Derbyshire Building Society, at 81 Charles Street, was the location of Leicester's only experimental 'drive-in bank'," wrote Mr Hollingworth, of Leicester.

"Opened in March 1959 by Martin's Bank, it closed in 1963. The bank did, however, continue after that as a conventional walk-in bank.

"At the rear of the bank in Free Lane is the opening that was used by motorists using this new facility."

Mr Hollingworth also pointed out there was a similar scheme. "Wharf Street drive-in post office also opened later that year, in December 1959. There is still the evidence of the entrance that was used."

In 2005, reader David Edwards was able to provide further information about the post office – from first-hand experience.

Mr Edwards was an engineer at the city council. One of his tasks was to prepare the road system to accommodate the drive-in post office, off Wharf Street. The date of this project was 1959 or 1960.

Mr Edwards said: "The drive-in post office, a forerunner of the drive-in McDonald's, was not terribly successful and, like the drive-in bank in Leicester, soon fell into disuse."

Nowadays, of course, the widespread availability of cashpoints means the drive-in bank would never really be needed anyway. However, the dwindling number of post offices means access to this service is further reduced – although I notice that in Leicester's Gallowtree Gate branch, self-service machines have been introduced.

Read more at http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/leicester-8217-s-pioneering-idea-saved-on-parking/story-30306552-detail/story.html#64CrerRSkiPeZMUe.99

 

The down side was we pulled down some fantastic buildings in the pursuit to be modern, mind you we still seem hell bent on doing that.