Dave Fishwick’s bid to buy Burnley RBS

The self-made millionaire has put an audacious bid in take over the Royal Bank of Scotland building in his hometown – if it is put up for sale.

The TV star’s surprise bid came after RBS banking chiefs announced a number of branches would be axed across the country.

Speaking to the Express, he said: “I saw that 44 RBS branches were going to be closed – and 14 were going to be the last banks in town.

“If you shut these last remaining banks you have got pensioners who cannot get their pensions, local businesses who cannot cash up at night or get wages to their staff at the end of the week.

“But the Bank of Dave will always have a town centre branch while all the other are just going online.

“If one of the 44 branches going is in Burnley, then we would love to have one of them. I am willing to keep the staff on too.”

He said that part taxpayer-owned RBS was “fully aware” of his interest in the Burnley branch if it went to market.

Mr Fishwick says the demand from savers at his “tiny bank” in Kierby Walk has meant he needs a bigger headquarters in Burnley.

He said: “We need to expand. The problem we have got is so many people want to put money in. People walk through the door and they want to put £20,000, £50,000 or even their life savings in because it is 5% interest which is better than anywhere else in the country.

“We have taken in over £4.5m., we have more than 1,000 accounts and we have got a 12 month waiting list just to get on the waiting list.

“We opened just one day last week so people could put their names on the list and we got pledges of £1.2m. and that was in Burnley.

“We need community banks. There is so much need for it. We need a lot more branches and people doing it but it almost impossible to do what we have done because the big banks have it their own way.”