New chapter for Newcastle Building Society as it opens branch in North Yorkshire library

Newcastle Building Society has officially opened the doors to its new branch in Knaresborough, helping restore access to financial services in the North Yorkshire market town.

Bucking the national trend of bank branch closures, the UK’s fastest growing building society is pioneering the use of multi-purpose services on the high street as part of its ongoing commitment to maintain and enhance access to cash and face to face financial services.

Since the last bank left Knaresborough in 2021, Newcastle Building Society has worked in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council to open a community branch within the town’s popular library.

Its innovative community branch model has been successfully introduced in three other locations; Wooler, Northumberland, Hawes in North Yorkshire and Yarm in Stockton-on-Tees, with a further community branch planned in Tynemouth, in partnership with North Tyneside Council.

Newcastle Building Society also plans to install a OneBanx multi-bank transaction terminal in both its Knaresborough and Gosforth branches, improving access to cash for both personal and business users.

Andrew Haigh, chief executive officer at Newcastle Building Society, said: “We’re facing into a cost of living crisis which will impact every household budget in the country so I can’t think of a time when it has been more important for people to have access to the face-to-face financial services they need.

“Our members tell us time and again how much they value our branch network, and whilst so many banks are closing branches, we remain absolutely committed to the high streets across our region.

“Our community branch model is one of the ways we’re taking an innovative approach to delivering the services that people want. We continue to invest heavily in our digital capability, but we’re allowing customers to choose how they want to use our services.

“I’m delighted to formally open our new branch in Knaresborough and to become part of this vibrant community. The feedback from residents and other businesses in the town has been fantastic and we’re looking forward to establishing a long and mutually beneficial presence in the town.”

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for libraries, Cllr Greg White, said: “The opening of a Newcastle Building Society branch in Knaresborough library has been welcomed in the local community. They already offer a community branch within Hawes library which has proved very popular with those who need access to cash, and is a great way of multi-purposing an already well-used building.

“The offer of financial services has significantly increased footfall into Knaresborough library and is encouraging new visitors through the doors.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily