It's Time has Come

This Dalrymple original dates from 1973 and was hung in a private area of the bank

Maybe, just maybe, our sub-postmaster has gotten it right. We felt he took a gamble in securing the local post office. His plan, it seems, had always been to converted it into something akin to Clinton Cards, selling all sorts of modern low-rent gifts alongside parcel post, first day covers and car tax. But no matter the baubles on offer, you can't buck the decline in post office footfall. I mean, who visits a post office, these days? Long-term, it's a dead business.

Or is it?

As a trading organisation selling stamps and taking money for bills, well, the internet has put paid to all that. The post office can no longer justify its branches. Where there's a W H Smith, the post office has already simply been subsumed, such is the slim post office profit margin. Our sub-postmaster, though, could never have predicted the closure of the NatWest Bank. Today, in fact, is the first full day without the NatWest. Who'd've thought it. But the banking world's loss is our sub-postmaster's gain. He can now expect to generate much needed additional custom thanks to former NatWest customers being able to make "banking" transactions at his post office.That's surely good for commission.

At lunchtime today. Temporarily out of service?

In spite of thank-you cake and refreshments from 9.30 a.m. the NatWest lost no time in closing things down. By lunchtime, the automatic telling machine was out of service. It's message was to contact your card issuer if your card had been retained. By the evening, the ATM and the night safe were boarded up. There was a sign in one of the windows advising that the branch had closed. The unfortunate thing was that the window leading obscured the fact.

The manager stays on today to see an orderly handover to Group 4 Security who are responsible for decommissioning the branch, after which she, too, will be redundant, as are her current staff, only one of whom is understood to have a new job. The manager started her banking career 37 years ago in the Rhuthun/Ruthin branch as the manager's secretary. She also worked as manager at Dinbych (also closed and still unsold). She had risen to become manager of Wrexham's sizeable branch but swapped for Rhuthun because Wrexham's operation was far from pleasant, with drug users in the lobby and regular rude customers. Three cheers for a small town like Rhuthun where such issues are currently rare. As rare, in fact, as a Natwest bank.

The search results say "1 branch found within 5 miles of Ruthin"and the footer of the screenshot gives the distance as 7.85 miles...

The Rhuthun branch was the oldest building in the NatWest portfolio. Till yesterday, of course. Now, those who remain with NatWest have automatically transferred to the Yr Wyddgrug/Mold branch. The NatWest website reckons that it's within five miles of Rhuthun. Perhaps the decision to close Rhuthun was taken on false grounds. Even the small print at the bottom on the screenshot underestimates the distance by nearly three miles.

So, if you don't want to travel five, eight or even 11 miles (depending on what the NatWest tells you or you know to be correct) or if you can't be bothered with the once-a-week van in future to be parked at Tesco (or the community banker available twice a week at the Naylor Leyland), you can use the local post office. Therein, expect something of a renaissance. So confident is our sub-postmaster that he's also gone and invested in Dinbych's post office as well (or will do, shortly). As part of his promised £50,000 transformation, he will no doubt offer the same range of  knick-knacks as at Rhuthun. The post office was looking to amalgamate Dinbych's within an existing local business till Rhuthun's white knight again rode into town...

Update 14/6/17: the NatWest has now removed the opening hours information either side of the front door. To date, the NatWest branded signage remains intact.

The former bank is now for sale at £120,000.