In great news for Syston, September saw the opening of the long-awaited Syston Banking Hub in its temporary home in the Community Centre, before it moves to its permanent home in the town later this year. Recent years have seen the local bank branches in Syston close down, leaving the town and surrounding villages without a bank within walking distance. While the local Post Office does a fantastic job of providing some banking services, there was a clear need for a banking hub - a location which could house the major banks on a rota basis, providing face-to-face access for people to their bank in a local location.
The delivery of this Hub is fantastic news for Syston, and the surrounding villages, and is down to a lot of work, by a lot of people, over a number of years. As Syston's local MP Edward pledged many months ago to work to deliver this Hub, has been campaigning for this Hub since 2021, and has been working hard with partners to deliver it, most recently early this summer brokering a meeting in Syston with the Town Council and Cash Access UK (who set up the Hub) to find ways to overcome remaining obstacles to delivering it.
Alongside Cash Access UK, particular huge credit must go to Syston Town Council and it's former Chair and current Chair, Cllrs Tom Barkley and Mark Cherry, Town Manager Catherine Voyce, former Borough Councillors Simon Bradshaw, and particularly, current Town Cllr, Sue Gerrard who also campaigned hard and determinedly for this hub, having come up with the idea, the team at the local Post Office, and many others, who should all, rightly, be proud of this achievement, and without whom it wouldn't have happened. The Hub is open Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm, with staff from Santander being available on Mondays, NatWest on Tuesdays, Lloyds on Wednesday afternoons, HSBC on Thursdays, and Barclays on Fridays.
Edward said: "The opening of the banking hub in Syston, in its temporary base in the Community Centre before moving to its permanent home in the town, is fantastic news for Syston and the nearby villages. Back in 2021 I pledged to help deliver a banking hub for Syston, and working with Syston Town Council (STC) and many others, as Syston's local MP I have campaigned with them and others for this, and most recently met with STC and Cash Access UK earlier this summer in the town to help move this exciting project forward, so its fantastic to see it delivered and to have played my part in doing so. This is great news for local residents and businesses, and is great news for a great town!"
