Is this the rudest bank in London?

London is a city full of banks - there are over 500 in the City alone. As well as the investment banks there are retail banks which provide banking services for ordinary people. There are four (the Big Four) retail banks in the United Kingdom - HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays and NatWest.

I have had an account with NatWest since university. At the time it was an excellent institution but over the years I have seen standards declining (or perhaps I have become more demanding?). Now NatWest is no different to all the other financial sharks (bombarding you with junk mail, finding ever more ingenious ways to slip charges onto your statement, pestering you with sales pitches whenever you try to carry out routine tasks).

Out of all the shops and offices where I have experienced poor (and sometimes downright bad) service, the NatWest branch in Pentonville Road (opposite the old Kings Cross Thameslink Station) ranks as the worst. Is this the rudest bank in London? The staff are off-hand and unhelpful, the manageress sarcastic and obstructive, and the counter-attendant/clerk who wears a headscarf is among the rudest people I have ever met (unfortunately there is a single-queuing system, otherwise I would avoid her).

If you ask one of the staff for information you get referred (in a cheeky don’t-waste-my-time manner) to a rack of leaflets.

What is wrong with these people?

A rotten fish stinks from the head downwards (as the Danes say) so you’ve got to blame Helen Page, the NatWest overall Marketing Director.