Bank Holiday New Years Eve

Thomson are currently trying to increase sales by campaigning for a new Bank Holiday. I don't think we need another; I just do not see the point of everyone having to take the same day off together. Indeed, some of the Bank Holidays we already have seem random to me; May day, the August Bank Holiday, the Spring Bank Holiday are completely random and don't really seem to celebrate anything. Maybe someone can enlighten me?

In any case I seem to have a hard enough time getting into my local branches as it is. I went for a walk round the local High Street to tie up some financial loose ends today, New Years Eve, as it is during my holidays and banks only seem to be open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. To my surprise, two of my least favourite banks were open (HSBC and Abbey), whereas two of my preferred banks closed early (Halifax at 1pm, and Nationwide at 3pm).

First Direct, a division of HSBC, have started marketing their fee-paying current accounts on quality of service rather than level of interest rates, the latter tactic being favoured by Halifax. I usually do not notice the difference but today I did. I must admit though, I still think value for money is probably more important when choosing an account.

Any thoughts?