New bank

When I opened my first business account, it was at the TSB in Kendal. My manager was a chap called Andrew Quarry, who was a bit of a legend around Kendal. I moved my personal account there, too, and that was managed by a nice lad called Peter Horton. (He still looks boyish but he has grey hair now.)

Andrew was great. He knew me, he knew what I did, and during the various cash flow crises I encountered as I raised a young family of four girls, he was always there for me. If I needed an overdraft extension for a couple of weeks, for example, Drew would take care of it for me. I was always honest with him and he repaid that with trust.

Then the first of many reorganisations took place and Drew was no longer my manager. In fact, if I wanted a manager, it would cost my £10 a month. Instead, I was given the number for a business call centre. This was so unpopular that by the time I started my proper business, I did have a manager to call my own once more, a chap called Rob Walters.

And that was exceptionally lucky as it was for the couple of years that he was my manager that I needed one the most. Like Drew, he took the time to get to know me and my business and it's safe to say that if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have a company today. He was replaced by a chap called Steve Smith, who didn't give two hoots about me or my company and it all just went downhill from there.

TSB...LloydsTSB... and now just Lloyds, the service I've received has just become worse and worse. Thank God we don't need the bank's help anymore; we simply use them as a clearing house. Recently, they've gone back to the call centre model, that is unless you turn over more than a certain seven figure sum a year. How much clearer a message do you need about the clients that they're interested in?

And then, in an odd little sequence of events, I ended up meeting a chap at Natwest in Kendal, who offered to take on my personal banking and, my God, it has been like a breath of fresh air. It's not like we're destined to become best pals or anything, but he's taken an interest in me, my business, and bent over backwards to help me out with the long running saga of remortgaging. I have a bank manager that I like again.

I went into the branch to sort out something to do with the account, today, and he mentioned a new stationery shop in Kendal. He'd noticed that I use a fountain pen to write with. I know it's a small thing but after an ever more loveless marriage to Lloyds, it's like a breath of fresh air. So when I left the bank, I walked back to the car via the New Shambles to pop into the shop, which is called Iridium. 

They had a range of Lamy pens, including some beautiful but eye-waveringly expensive ones, which I looked at for a while. Fortunately the shopkeeper was busy helping a woman try out different nibs so there was no danger of the case being opened and one finding its way into my hand, nor me testing the overdraft facility!