Vernon Building Society will open its first community branch in Uppermill, Saddleworth, in November 2026, the first step in a plan to have a presence in every Greater Manchester borough. The society has not given an opening date.
The branch will be at 92-94 High Street, home of Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisers and Albion House Wealth Management. Customers will be able to meet the society’s staff face to face about savings, mortgages and other financial decisions from Tuesday to Thursday, 10am to 4pm.
The part-time model, hosted inside local organisations rather than in standalone premises, is meant to let the Stockport-based mutual reach more communities in Greater Manchester and Cheshire while it keeps investing in its existing branches in Bramhall, Hazel Grove, Marple, Poynton, Reddish and Stockport. Further community branches are planned for 2027.
A town without a bank
The society says 785 bank and building society branches have closed across the North West since 2015, and that Oldham East and Saddleworth have lost over 75 per cent of their banking facilities in that time. The last bank in Uppermill, NatWest, closed its High Street branch in 2016.
Darren Ditchburn, CEO at Vernon Building Society, said: “Many people across the region still want to speak to someone face to face, particularly when making important decisions about saving or buying a home.”
Founded in Stockport in 1924, the society is owned by its members. A planned expansion of new branches over the next five years and a recent refurbishment of its six existing branches together represent an investment of nearly £2 million in local high streets, it said.
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