Access was a British credit card brand launched by

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...

Midland Bank Midland Bank plc was one of the Big Four (banks)#United Kingdom, Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birming ...

and

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it becam ...

in 1972 to rival the already established

Barclaycard Barclaycard (; stylised as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. It is considered as the United Kingdom's first and now biggest credit card provider with 5 million accounts. History Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June ...

. The business operated from

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

, until 1989 when part of the business was transferred to

Basildon Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159. ...

. In July 1991, First Data Resources purchased the business, and with the member banks being allowed to process their own transactions, the name eventually disappeared from the market.

History

The Access card was introduced in the United Kingdom by a consortium consisting of National Westminster Bank, Midland Bank (now

HSBC UK HSBC UK Bank plc is a British multinational banking and financial services organisation based in Birmingham, England. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the global HSBC banking and financial group, which has been headquartered in London since ...

) and Lloyds Bank, later joined by Williams & Glyn's Bank (now RBS) as a rival to the established

. It was established as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

incorporated as The Joint Credit Card Company Limited with Lloyds, Midland and National Westminster banks each owning 30% and Williams & Glyn's owning 10%. The ''Access'' name was registered as a trademark on 26 November 1971 and the product was launched on 23 October 1972. The former television and radio works of Ekco in Priory Crescent, Southend-on-Sea was purchased and set up as the home of Access. The card was originally designed by Access Trading International Corp of New York registered by Mr. Milton Stanson, a well known stocks broker and Mr Luis E. Silva, and investor, then sold to Lloyds Bank, U.K. In

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, the card was issued by Williams & Glyn's parent company, the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

and by Clydesdale Bank, then a subsidiary of Midland Bank. In

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, it was issued by

Ulster Bank Ulster Bank is one of the traditional Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group was subdivided into two separate legal entities: National Westminster Bank Plc, trading as Ulster Bank (registered in England and Wales and operating i ...

, a subsidiary of NatWest and by

Northern Bank Northern Bank Limited, trading as Danske Bank, is a retail bank in Northern Ireland. Northern Banking Company Limited was formed from a private bank, with the Deed of Partnership being signed on 1 August 1824. It is one of the oldest banks in ...

, at the time a subsidiary of Midland. The company purchased a 15% share in Eurocard from 1973, and the MasterCard since 1974.

Europay International Europay International was a financial company. It was created by the merger of Eurocard International and Eurocheque International and was headquartered in Waterloo, Belgium, on the same premises as EPSS (European Payment Systems Services) an ...

has since merged with MasterCard to create MasterCard International. The business was run from several offices in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. In 1989, the company purchased the former Ilford Photographic site in Christopher Martin Road,

and moved the headquarters of the business from Priory Park. The main site, at Priory Crescent, was subsequently sold on to the Royal Bank of Scotland, before being demolished to make way for a housing development. In 1989, the card membership opened up its merchant processing to other providers other than the Joint Credit Card Company, in a reaction to the Competition and Monopolies Commission investigation into the credit card business. At this time the owners of the business started to set up their own processing centres. The company name was rebranded from the Joint Credit Card Company to Signet Ltd in 1989, before the business was sold to First Data in 1991. With the banks processing their own customers, the Access brand disappeared and their cards issued under their own branding.

Offices

* Priory Crescent opened 1972 * Essex House, Southchurch Road opened 1978. Transferred to Lloyds Bank in 1989. * Chartwell House, Victoria Circus, transferred to Midland/HSBC. * Maitland House, High Street * Esplanade House, Eastern Esplanade, transferred to Natwest. * Christopher Martin Road, Basildon

Cultural impact

From 1978, the main slogan of Access was ''"Your Flexible Friend"'', which featured in many television advertisements, accompanied by an animated Access and his friend Money (a pound sign). Later advertisements featured the bumbling "Fat Wallet". In the '' Mr. Bean'' episode " The Curse of Mr. Bean", the title character says, "My flexible friend" after using his credit card to spread butter on bread. Another slogan which featured in a television advertisement was ''"Does you does, or does you don't take Access?"'' (sung to the tune of "

Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" is a song written by Louis Jordan and Billy Austin. The song's first recording, by Jordan, was made on October 4, 1943. It was released as the B-side of a single with " G.I. Jive" with the title "Is You Is or I ...

"). Yet another slogan was ''"It takes the waiting out of wanting"''. Access was shirt sponsor of Southend United Football Club at the beginning of the 1980s.

References

External links

History of Plastic Cards
The UK Cards Association
The History of the Access Credit Card
AccessCreditCard.info {{Portal bar, Companies, Bank Financial services companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in the United Kingdom Products introduced in 1972 1996 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Companies based in Essex Credit cards HSBC Lloyds Banking Group NatWest Group Southend-on-Sea Buildings and structures in Southend-on-Sea Companies based in Southend-on-Sea