Formulaic and untrue: Bank of Dave reviewed

Bank of Dave is the ‘true(ish)’ story, as this puts it, of Dave Fishwick, the Burnley businessman who wanted to set up a high street bank to help the local community. He was, Fishwick said in a recent interview, at home when the call came from Piers Ashworth in LA. ‘He’s the writer of Mission Impossible and he’d heard about my story and he said: “Dave, I want to make a Hollywood film about your life.” You get this a lot in Burnley, ha!’ I was made up for Dave, who seems like an excellent fellow, and this does have all the makings of one of those British underdog dramas I’m a total sucker for. (See: Calendar Girls, Kinky Boots, Eddie the Eagle, Phantom of the Open, etc.)

But, alas, it’s not ‘true-ish’ as it’s barely true at all. There are many fictionalised elements – a romance, a courtroom showdown and, most bizarrely, the appearance of Def Leppard – and in this way it becomes formulaically distracted and often loses sight of its main character. I now feel bad for Dave. Shall I tell him, or will you?

Dave’s story, which was originally brought to the nation’s attention in a 2012 Channel 4 documentary, is a fascinating one. Having left school at 16 with no qualifications, he went on to make millions selling mini-vans. Come the financial crash of 2008, he noted that many of his customers were struggling and couldn’t get bank loans to tide them over. In fact, everyone was struggling.

But would a regular bank lend money to a busker of no fixed address who needed £180 for a new amp? Dave set up on the high street and started lending, making decisions based on the people in front of him, not via some computer 300 miles away.