This article is from page 18 of the 2006-04-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
BANKING competition in Ennis has moved up a notch with the official opening today of the Bank of Scotland.
And while the move received a warm welcome from the Chamber of Commerce’s, its Executive Officer, Rita McInerney has called for more support through the planning process to ensure that retailers are encouraged into Ennis to balance big chains like the banks.
Ennis is the 11th branch to open of the 46 branch network that the Bank of Scotland intends to achieve over the next year. This will be the first
completely new retail banking net work in more than a century.
The new bank will operate longer than usual opening hours, starting at 9am Monday to Saturday and staying open until 5pm on weekdays and noon on Saturday. Ms Chrissy Quinn, Head of Retail Banking at Bank of Scotland said the banks is “delighted to officially open the Ennis branch” and she thanked the Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Frankie Neylon, for agreeing to perform the official opening.
Rita McInerney said that the Chamber “welcomes the opening of the bank. It shows confidence in the economy of Ennis as a regional town.”
But Ms McInerney expressed the Chamber’s concern “that a good balance between retail and services be kept. The bank is in a good location, as it is close to existing banks, but we would be concerned that more retail businesses be encouraged to come in and keep the town centre alive.”
The Chamber’s CEO said that the organisation would like to see greater assistance given to prospective retail businesses at the planning stage.
“We need good pre-planning meetings, with proper note taken of what is discussed and agreed. Retailers thinking of investing in Ennis need to know what restrictions might apply in terms of things like site and architecture. We need to keep the balance between services, chains and individual retailers,” she said.
The Ennis branch is managed by Ciara Flynn, who is joined by Diarmuid Kelly, Mortgage Advisor and staff Claire Keane, Suzi McMahon, Mary Gilmore and Pauline Casey. Head of Retail Banking at the Bank of Scotland, Chrissy Quinn, said that customers “will see and experience a real difference.”