Preston building society branch to close for refurb

The Cumberland Building Society has announced an investment in its Preston branch which will temporarily close while improvement works are carried out.

The Society says it needs to close the branch from 7 March to 7 April so it can do essential maintenance on the Fishergate building, and it will also be taking the opportunity to invest in its interior with some upgrades to its decor.

James Cookson, the Cumberland’s cluster manager responsible for Preston, said: “We’re committed to branches as part of our ‘Kinder banking’ purpose, which for our Preston branch means taking the proper time and care to carry out important repairs and ensure we can be here for our customers for years to come.

“We’re celebrating our 175th birthday in 2025 and Preston was The Cumberland’s first branch, opening in 1973. We’re very proud of our long history serving people in the city so when we realised we needed to shut the branch for essential building works we wanted to take the opportunity to also refresh some aspects of the inside of the branch to improve the overall experience for our customers.

“Our Preston colleagues will be working in our Lancaster branch during this temporary closure so people will see the same friendly faces there for a few weeks and all calls to the Preston branch will be automatically transferred to them,” he added.

The Cumberland’s Preston team has already been speaking to regular customers about the temporary four-week closure to reassure them that they will still be able to use the building society’s services and that the branch will reopen after its refresh in April. During this time, the Customer Care team will also be available as usual on Monday-Friday from 8am – 7pm and on a Saturday from 8:30am-4pm on 01228 403141.

After completing the essential maintenance work on the building, The Cumberland will be making some improvements inside of the branch with some redecorating and the installation of new digital advertising screens.

“When the branch reopens at the start of April, hopefully customers will appreciate the work we’ve done, but the main thing they will notice is that our team is back in place and eager to resume helping people in Preston with our award-winning customer service,” James said.

The Preston branch opening hours will remain unchanged and will continue to serve the public as usual following the works.

The work follows the recent refurbishment of the Cumberland’s branches in Maryport and English Street, Carlisle, and underlines the Society’s commitment to its branch network as bank closures continue apace.