,,
Rumour has it… |
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WHY NOT ALSO VISIT |
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Serving the gin and Jaguar
belt…
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Ultra-cool:
Banking by Zephyr at the
Epsom drive-in. Long before the days of “would you like fries with that?”
and the well meaning but misguided: “I’m sorry about your weight (wait)
sir/madam”, Mr K P Marsh shows them how it’s done… |
There are the Downs, the
Racecourse and sufficient green belt to have kept the area mercifully insulated
from becoming a suburb, and the number of estate agents' offices in this
small township are an indication of the demand—and
the price—for residential property. The shopkeepers are courteous, the train
services to London frequent, and Epsom is altogether a good place to live in
if one has-the means.
The branch interior is spacious, with a rosewood counter fronted by white
marble brickettes and dark glazed screens behind the counter space.
Blue-green vinyl fabric covers two walls and, if the overall effect is
somewhat clinical, the materials and finish throughout are worthy of what may
justifiably be termed a prestige branch. Here the selection of the staff has
been as imaginatively and successfully handled by London District as the
Midland District handled the staffing of Peterborough branch which opened on
the same day. Mr Brian du Feu, will soon have completed his third house move
in four years—an indication of what progress in
banking can sometimes involve. He was in the photographic business before
joining the Bank and was for some years secretary of the Jersey Camera Club:
his interests include hockey, tennis, badminton, surfing and
skin-diving. Mr Ian Fletcher joined
the staff after six years at Chislehurst and Mr Kenneth Marsh, who has
appeared frequently in magazine photographs of cricket, hockey or rugby
teams, lives conveniently in Epsom as if by arrangement. Mr C. J. Butcher
commutes cheerfully each day to Oxted with the help of his Renault-Banger and
Miss G. C. Leggett, who joined the branch shortly before it opened, will tell
any girl with ideas about the glamour of working in the Big City that a
secretary's job in a London fashion house with travel costs of £2 a week for
two years is a poor
substitute for working at Epsom branch and living at home on Epsom Downs. |
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Mr
Marsh Looks after another customer who is keen to see what drive-in banking
at Epsom has to offer… (K. P. Marsh with Miss G. C. Leggett in the role
of customer) |
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Quite
naturally she wanted to try the London job and quite sensibly she packed it
in: quite understandably Mr du Feu and his staff are very glad that she did. Epsom
branch is off to a good start, and the business is likely to continue
expansion on private and commercial lines. Our only regret about going there
is that we cannot state how many accounts they have opened already, because
one never knows who might read these words. But we now have a lot more
sympathy for the sad-faced, milling crowds we passed on Hungerford Bridge and
in Waterloo station on our way out that morning. They looked as if they had
seen Epsom branch and were sorry they couldn't work there. What became of the Epsom
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 Epsom. We asked our friends
at Barclays Group Archives what happened to the branch following the merger
with Barclays. They told |
Above: B. R. du Feu (Manager), I.
Fletcher and C. J. Butcher |
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us that Epsom Branch
continued to offer its drive-in till until 1979, and the branch itself was
closed in 1981. This
means there was Drive-in Banking at Epsom for 13 years – 1966-1979 – which is
not bad for an experiment! |
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Sp1