On This Day: Britain’s first drive-through bank opens in Watford

APRIL 18, 1961: Britain’s first ever drive-through bank opened on this day in 1961.

A branch of the Westminster Bank in Watford, Hertfordshire opened a roadside kiosk so that motorist customers would not need to get out of their cars.

A British Pathé newsreel revealed this American concept to a public then unfamiliar with a system later widely adopted in the UK by fast food chains like McDonald’s.

Filming a ‘drive in’ transaction, it showed a motorist rolling up to the teller’s bulletproof window.

The customer asks via a microphone to cash a cheque, which he places into a metal transfer box, which the female worker slides into her kiosk.

The cashier, who listens in on a phone, then hands the man the money as ‘the cheque was not the bouncing sort’ in an instant service no longer possible in British banks.

Satisfied, the customer then places the money in his pocket and drives away.

During the 1960s and 1970s, dozens of drive-through branches were opened across the country.

The Westminster Bank, which merged with the National Provincial Bank in 1968 to become NatWest, was among the main drivers of this trend.

[On This Day: VW Beetle becomes most produced car in history]

But despite the original British ‘drive in’ in Watford still remaining open, most of the others have since closed.

Unlike their fast-food equivalents, which have sprung up all over the country and tend to be on the edge of towns, the drive-through banks were much less popular.

And, where they thrived, they sometimes created traffic problems in busy town centres and came under pressure to close.

Last year, a branch of the new Metro Bank in Slough, Berkshire was the first to open in decades.

But, unlike many of its forbears, it operates off the street with a car park and sufficient space for vehicles.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, drive-through banks have thrived in America, where the first ever such branch opened in Dallas, Texas in 1938.

[On This Day: Ford make first new car after ending Model T production]

Their popularity has been ensured because the country is less densely populated and so car use is more widespread and essential.

Also, sprawling urban areas in most cities mean that there is more space to situate branches large enough for motorist customers.

[On This Day: Albert Einstein dies]

However, even in this most car-centred of countries, some drive-through banks are closing due to reduced demand thanks to the rise of online banking and apps.

Yet, globally, the surge in car ownership in Asia means the number of drive-through banks is continuing to increase after the launch of China’s first one in 2007.