No job losses as St George Bathurst branch moves in with Westpac

The bank says St George Bathurst "is not closing", but will be joining Westpac Bathurst in the grand bank building that dominates its stretch of William Street.

Meanwhile, St George's current 155 Howick Street premises - covering 189 square metres on the ground level and a first-floor mezzanine of around 122 square metres - is already being advertised for lease, but it will join a number of empty commercial buildings around town.

That includes the prominent former Regency Jewellers premises next door on the corner of Howick and William.

St George's move into the Westpac building in Bathurst follows similar shifts in the region in recent times.

The Westpac branch at Dubbo left its historic corner building and moved into that city's St George branch mid-last year and the St George branch at Orange moved into that city's Westpac branch at the start of this month.

Westpac and St George are also in the one location at Lithgow.

Westpac - which merged with St George in 2008 - spoke about its branch "co-location" plans in a statement in July last year.

At the time, the bank said it had co-located 21 branches "in key locations including Bega and Dubbo" and was "reviewing opportunities to co-locate around 100 more branches over the next 18 months".

"The co-location approach enables us to move two branches into one single location in cases where the two buildings are located very close together," Westpac Group CEO Peter King said at the time.

"This maintains a physical presence for customers and signals a long-term investment in these communities, while reducing footprint duplication in the same location."

The latest bank move in the Bathurst CBD follows a restless recent period in which the Commonwealth shifted from Howick Street to William and NAB shifted from the corner of William and Church to the Commonwealth's old building in Howick.

"We can confirm our St. George Bathurst is not closing, but will be moving to 86-88 William Street where our Westpac and St. George branches will be located from 28 November 2023," a Westpac Group spokesperson said in a statement to the Advocate.

"Our St. George customers in Bathurst will have access to all the services they have today, supported by all the same people."

The Advocate asked Westpac if the company could give an idea of the internal changes required in the historic William Street building to accommodate the St George branch and the budget that had been allocated for the change.

Westpac did not provide any specific information in relation to either of those questions.

In Dubbo, however, the company spent around $2 million on its combined St George and Westpac building.

IN BUSINESS NEWS AROUND BATHURST:

IF the current St George building in Howick Street doesn't find a new tenant quickly, it will cause plenty of concern for those who have been watching the CBD's struggles in recent times.

Bathurst businessman Peter Rogers, the owner of a number of commercial premises, told the Advocate at the start of the year that he had counted more than 20 independently-owned businesses that had closed without being sold to new owners, and nearly as many franchises that had left Bathurst while retaining stores in nearby regional centres.

He told the Advocate that a shopfront he owns on Howick Street opposite the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum had remained vacant for two years and required the rent to be dropped by 50 per cent to be able to lock in a tenant.

Bathurst Business Chamber president Paul Jones also said at the time that the business community was concerned about the vacancy rate in the CBD.

"Some of the businesses closed during COVID and didn't reopen ... things like the travel agents that were here, they got severely knocked about by COVID," he said.

"And the other big issue businesses are experiencing is finding staff, and that just makes it incredibly difficult to even think about opening a business."

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