Centralised banking: Lloyds moves its town centre branch to the Westfield-managed Centrale from Monday
Lloyds Bank moves into Centrale on Monday, and says it has invested £1.6million in its new town centre branch.
To mark the opening, the first customers through the doors on June 15 will be offered biscuits decorated with the Lloyds black horse trade mark, “alongside other surprise horsey giveaways”, the bank says.
The branch occupies more than 360sqm on the ground floor of Centrale and will open from 10am until 5pm Monday to Friday and 9.30am until 3pm on Saturdays.
Lloyds North End branch is to close as the bank moves to its new premises. The bank says that the new branch will have twice as many staff as worked at North End, with “a 25-strong team from Lloyds available to support customers”.
The bank refused to say how its annual rents in Centrale compare with its high street site. In Centrale, its landlords will be URW, Unibail Rodamco Westfield, the Paris-based mall developers whose £1.5billion promised regeneration of Croydon town centre has been stalled for 15 years, causing development blight which has cost Croydon business countless millions.
New start: Lloyds say its ground floor Centrale branch is ‘bright’ and modern
Lloyds say that the new branch creates “a bright, modern space where customers in the local community can manage their money with support from the latest technology and friendly colleagues”. Which is nice…
Lloyds say: “The new branch has been designed to reflect how customers want to bank today, with significant investment in new technology including cash deposit and withdrawal machines. The space also gives customers more choice in how they bank, with Saturday opening hours and specially trained colleagues on hand to help with everything from everyday banking to using online and mobile services.
“Open areas throughout the branch create a relaxed environment for conversations about more complex queries, alongside ample private space for more sensitive discussions.”
Helen Paynton, the senior branch manager, said: ” We’re excited to open the doors to our new Croydon branch and welcome customers into a space designed around the way people bank today.
“This £1.6million investment reflects our commitment to Croydon and to giving customers greater choice in how they bank, whether they want face-to-face support for important moments or help using our app or online banking.”
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What was wrong with the Lloyds Bank branch in North End?
Lloyds seem be showing misplaced faith in URW, Unibail Rodamco Westfield, the Paris-based mall developers, by spending £1.6m building a new branch in Centrale, one of their half-empty shopping centres in Croydon, despite URW, whose £1.5billion promised regeneration of Croydon town centre has been stalled for 15 years, causing development blight which has cost Croydon businesses countless millions.
Nothing wrong with old one but seems like URW are giving them free or next to nothing rent . Westfield Croydon cannot attract big names like Apple, Tesla, Samsung, John Lewis, Gucci etc like the Shephards Bush one..so relocating Lloyds is the only alternative as no one wants to be there. Let us hope the old one isn’t turned into a junk shop like the old Waitrose. It is also probably a lot safer to house them in a shopping centre with high level security guards patrolling the area. Customers are probably put off by the drug dealing and homelessness around the old one oo.
I hope they rent out the North End space to a vape shop that does phone unlocking. If not I’ll also be happy to have a shop selling cheap luggage and unbranded pots and pans.
I live in Purley and bank with Lloyds and the Croydon branch is the nearest one after the Brighton Rd closure unfortunately. Just dread going into the town centre but what you say will probably become true. If you look at how sucessful Soho is, it is because Shaftesbury Capital control exactly what type of shops can open there. Same applies to Oxford Street more recently where the Mayor has intervened what can and cannot be opened. Same applies to Canary Wharf where most of the area is owned by Qatar . Mayor Perry and the BID scheme just do not get it and think putting up trees and giraffes will make Croydon a “destination”. They fail to understand that the more garbage shops you allow to open…you only attract a certain type of demographic too and long term you bring the whole entire area down too.
One of the problems, is that dated UK council laws stop councillors from blocking and objecting to high street slot gaming, betting shops, pawnbrokers, bric-a-brac shops, “american candy” stores, Mediterranean barbers, etc. The Mayor and councillors would love to attract classy brands kike Waitrose (back again) and Gail’s, but Croydon needs to clean it’s act up in crime, social problems and clean the streets, which would mean GENTRIFICATION from wealthy property developers and architects for Generation A: The children of of the 20 somethings, when THEY turn 20s.
I really dont see how closing all the smaller branches is giving us more choice.
I thought having local branches gave us more choice.
We don’t all use online banking. Nor do we wish to.
Having closed all the local banks means I now have to go into Croydon. A 5-mile journey for me. Maybe people who do have online banking are happy but I am certainly not. So many branches closing is not choice. Whatever you may say.
We have no hub near here so Croydon is the only branch. You are closing Halifax branches now and that leaves me with even less choice again. Please start thinking about your older customers. There are still many of us around who can’t manage online banking and give us our choice back.