Newcastle Building Society opens latest branch in historic Teesdale market town

Newcastle Building Society has opened its new branch in Barnard Castle.

The region’s biggest building society has created a new full service and financial advice branch in the town’s marketplace. It is said to be part of a multi-million-pound branch network refurbishment programme.

The 1,200 sq ft space provides a new environment granting customers better access to services, information and advice, as well as to private meeting spaces.

Six full and part-time positions, including a financial adviser, have been created in the new branch. A celebration event will be held to mark its official opening from 11am this Wednesday (October 2).

Stuart Miller, customer director at Newcastle Building Society, said: “We’ve had a presence in Barnard Castle for over 25 years and have found a fantastic long-term location from which to reaffirm and extend our local customer relationships.

“While many other financial institutions are closing branches or reducing hours across the North East, including in Barnard Castle, we remain firmly committed to contributing to the vitality of successful, sustainable local communities through this sort of direct investment.

“The region’s high streets have an important long-term role to play at the heart of our communities, and we’re excited to be welcoming customers old and new to our new Barnard Castle branch.”

The new Barnard Castle branch is Newcastle Building Society’s fifth in County Durham and takes its number of branches across the North East and Cumbria up to 28.

A sixth county branch is scheduled to open in Bishop Auckland in the next few weeks within the ex-premises of a recently-closed Virgin Money branch, with plans in place for a full refurbishment in early 2020.