Barclays : “I owe a lot to Barclays but I’ve given everything possible in return”

"By hook or by crook, we kept Barclays open during the Great Storm"

Jim, now 67, has worked in 12different branches and five offices across Essex and east London, and now looks after the bank's business clients in his area - but his focus has remained stayed constant. "My concern is always the customer because without the customers, we haven't got a business," he says.

Jim hopes to spend his retirement in the garden, playing golf, helping his daughter to take care of her horse and bonding with his three-year-old granddaughter.

My concern is always the customer because without the customers, we haven't got a business.

Jim Seabrook

Barclays Business Manager

Jim Seabrook breaks down his career highlights

1959: Barclays becomes the first British bank to introduce an electronic computer.
1967: Barclays launches the world's first cash machine.
1971: Jim starts working at a small branch in Kelvedon.
1971: British currency changes on Decimal Day.
1975: Jim becomes the first cashier at the Barclays Epping branch.
1977: Barclays introduces personal bankers to the UK.
1987: Barclays launches 'Connect' - the first debit card in the UK.
1987: Jim helps keep the Spitalfields branch open during Britain's Great Storm.
1988: Jim becomes a Small Business Manager at the Stratford Broadway branch.
2002: Jim joins Barclays Corporate Banking as a Medium-sized Business Manager.
2005: Jim scores the winning goal in the semi-final of Barclays' national veterans' football competition around this time.
2011: Jim moves into Barclays Business.
2021:Jim celebrates his retirement after five decades at Barclays.

Looking back on some of the more memorable moments of his career, he recalls working as an Office Manager near London's historic Spitalfields Market. "It was hustle and bustle in the mornings with a very busy fruit and vegetable market," says Jim, remembering a very different picture to today's fashion stores, street-food stalls and bars. "I've never seen so much cash. It was mental really, but it was what the area was all about. At certain times during the year, the safe where we stored the money wasn't big enough to take it all."

Later, he remembers keeping his branch open during Britain's Great Storm of 1987 - the most destructive to hit the UK in nearly 300 years - when ferocious winds of up to 100mph caused widespread chaos throughout the south of England.

"There was a horrific wind that destroyed many buildings and brought down many trees," he remembers. "At four o'clock in the morning, I got a call from the security room that the alarms were going off at the branch. So I got to Witham station in Essex to get an early train, but the station's signs were swinging off their hinges with the fierceness of the wind and they announced there would be no trains. So I popped in my car and drove through floods, and avoided falling trees and turned over lorries.

"By hook or by crook, I got to the branch - and four out of 28 staff members had managed to get in. We liaised with a nearby branch and between us, we managed to open one of our counters for customers to use. Despite the horrendous things that were going on in the south of England, we managed to keep Barclays open."

Jim also recalls studying three nights a week towards his banking exams in his early days at the bank during the 1970s - travelling back to his north Essex home on his Vespa scooter. "Even though it was quite new, the headlights kept letting me down," he laughs. "So there was many a night I was pushing this flaming scooter home in the dark, guided by moonlight. The things I've done to get on at Barclays!"