Getting a job at the huge National Savings Bank (NSB) complex at Boydstone Road in Cowglen was practically a rite of passage for generations of young workers in west central Scotland.
The site opened in 1966, when the bank's services were switched from London to Glasgow.
Served by the railway station at Kennishead and, later, the M77, the massive office was conveniently located for commuters and able to attract workers from far outside the boundaries of Cowglen and Pollok.
Described as a 'mini village', the complex would go from being run by just 11 staff when it first opened to employing more than 6,000 people at its peak between the '70s and '90s.
Prior to the opening of the Silverburn Shopping Centre in 2007, the Cowglen complex was home to a wide array of shops and facilities.
It had its own hairdresser's, video lending library, and nursery. There was even a theatre on site, which regularly hosted charity events, sports days and competitions - including the Miss NSB pageant, which featured female staff workers from up and down the country.
The company also issued an in-house newspaper to keep staff informed on the latest industry happenings.
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Staff quarters were even available at the bank to save business executives the trouble of finding a hotel in the city centre.
Today, however, there is little to suggest that the National Savings Bank ever existed - save for the clever naming of the new streets of the housing estate that replaced it.
The famous bank closed in 2015, with staff relocating to alternative office spaces in the city centre and East Kilbride.
While the closure had been anticipated for a number of years, it was an especially sad moment for the Cowglen bank's longest serving employees.
Reminiscing about the National Savings Bank, ex-employee Mary McKenna Rankin, who began working as an Admin Assistant at Cowglen in 1983, said the complex was "like a wee city in the heart of Pollok".
Speaking to The Scotsman newspaper shortly after her old offices closed for good, Mary said: "A lot of us, myself included came straight from school. There were a lot of families working together there at one point, and you’d be working with your mother, grandmother etc. It was a great family atmosphere in the early days, which gradually disappeared over time.
“People came in from Linwood, Paisley - all over. I came in from East Kilbride, and there was a whole load of us who would get a special bus in together.
“It was a great place to work and it seemed to have everything right there on site. There used to be a social club right across the road, and we’d all be encouraged to head over to grab a quick drink at lunchtime.
“There were so many different areas to Cowglen, it was massive - like a wee city in the heart of Pollok. Before Silverburn shopping centre was built, there really was no need to go anywhere - it had everything.”
Today, the Cowglen site has been completely redeveloped with the National Savings Bank fast becoming a distant memory.
Unrecognisable to how it looked just a few years ago, the land, which was purchased by the Persimmon housing group, is now occupied by 450 shiny new homes.
However, the link with the old NSB has not been forgotten. With names such as Investment Way, Penny Place and Premium Crescent, each of the streets that make up the new housing estate serve as a nod to the area's former life as a thriving financial services hub.
