'We look after food banks. If big banks did the same the world would be a much better place'

Hello from sunny Burnley, the best place on Earth!” Dave Fishwick beams through the screen – even wider when I tell him that I am enjoying the same sun from Manchester: “Still the North, that counts!”

It was this love of his home town that launched Fishwick into the public eye in 2011. Having built a successful career in the automotive industry, he began lending money to friends and neighbours who were struggling in the wake of the 2008 financial crash. 

Three years later, he fought an uphill legal battle to acquire the first new banking licence in England in over 150 years so that he could invest their savings for them – and won. For the past 15 years, Burnley Savings and Loans, which he runs alongside “right-hand man” David Henshaw, has provided an ethical alternative to traditional banking, with all profits donated to charities.

In 2012, he appeared on Channel 4’s Bank of Dave, which documented his fight for fair finances, followed in 2014 with Dave: Loan Ranger, highlighting his mission to persuade the government to crack down on exploitative payday lenders such as Wonga. Once again, he succeeded.

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The story of his “bonkers life” went global in 2023 when Netflix released the film Bank of Dave, starring Rory Kinnear, and then its sequel in 2025. 

Now, this tale of “an ordinary guy that does extraordinary things” is taking to the stage, with Sam Lupton taking on the title role in Bank of Dave: The Musical, written by Rob Madge with music and additional lyrics by Pippa Cleary, directed by Nikolai Foster.

“He’s a great example of somebody who knows their stuff, knows how to run a business, knows how to look after people, and at the same time be driven by their morals and by their ethics,” Lupton says of Fishwick.

“In business – and especially in banking – people kind of hide behind, ‘Oh, well, we can’t be ethical and successful,’ and Dave proves those people wrong.”

Read more:

• Bank of Dave: Meet the man bringing the fight to loan sharks and helping those who need it most
• Banks may not be interested in people experiencing poverty – but we are
• How to break the payday loan cycle: Alternatives and resources

Fishwick traces this perspective back to his parents. “My father was so hard working,” he says. “He was a farm labourer in the morning, he’d milk the cows, then when he’d finish working at the farm at around lunchtime, he’d walk down to the mill and start his second job fixing looms. My mum was a weaver.”

The musical draws on this early influence. “They sing songs about my father and his work ethic and there’s something really special about that, that’s really moving.” 

The films have already made a material impact. 

“I got asked to be the ambassador for community banks in America,” Fishwick tells me. 

“I was invited a couple of months ago to meet Darren Jones, [chief] secretary to the prime minister, and we were chatting about how we could help stop loan sharks and what can be done to make it more difficult for them to trade.

“He was wonderful, he took it on board and is trying to change a couple of the laws.”

Now, Fishwick hopes the musical can go even further.

“We will get in front of a different audience and hopefully be able to shine a light on some of the problems. But my biggest hope is people will spend a couple of hours of joy in a world that’s just so tough at the minute. 

“And we can inspire people to perhaps think, ‘Well, if Dave from Burnley can make it happen, then I can too.’”

Lupton agrees. “It’s a wonderful reminder of how kindness can genuinely make a change. If everything you do is driven by kindness, you can make a massive difference,” he says.

“It’s much easier to be cynical than it is to be optimistic. It’s much easier to say how awful everything is than it is to say how brilliant everything could be and try to change it.

“Dave goes against that. Dave pushes optimism, a can-do attitude of ‘Yes, things are bad, but let’s just work together to try to fix it.’”

The musical also speaks to those in power, Lupton adds. “One of the crucial elements of the show is the way it talks about how institutions fundamentally are designed to look after their own best interests, whether that’s banking, whether that’s political.

“When there’s been a lot of press about the state of our current political leaders, the show reminds people that there are snake oil salesmen trying to look after their best interests. 

“And while a snake oil salesman will never tell you he is one, and he might appear incredibly charming and might even try to appear like he’s one of you, there’s probably an ulterior motive.

“You can either be on that side or on the side of helping people. I don’t think the two are compatible.”

What the musical ultimately offers its audiences is a reminder that change is possible.

“We’ve now lent over £40 million to thousands of people and businesses,” Fishwick says. “We’ve helped people get the best rate of interest on the high street with the savings bonds that we do. And with the profit after the overheads are paid, we feed 750 children every morning. We put libraries in schools. We look after food banks and every single penny after the overheads are paid are given away. And if big banks did the same across the world, the world would be a much better place for people to live in.”

That would be something to keep singing about.

Bank of Dave: The Musical is at The Lowry, Salford until 16 May and Curve, Leicester from 20-30 May.

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