Metropol

Nobody likes a smart arse but, 'thead'?

Pete wrote:
I got my Welcome to TSB letter the other day. Have Lloyds ones gone out too?

Yep - got a snazzy booklet through the post at the start of this week. Lots of information of the bank's ethos.

Snatches of the new font around the (newly refitted) Ipswich branch already, ahead of Monday's big reveal when the temporary signage will come down. And the change back to the Lloyds Bank name means that the old sign emblazoned into the glass above the door can be visible again. Lovely!

madmusician wrote:

Pete wrote:
I got my Welcome to TSB letter the other day. Have Lloyds ones gone out too?

Yep - got a snazzy booklet through the post at the start of this week. Lots of information of the bank's ethos.

Snatches of the new font around the (newly refitted) Ipswich branch already, ahead of Monday's big reveal when the temporary signage will come down. And the change back to the Lloyds Bank name means that the old sign emblazoned into the glass above the door can be visible again. Lovely!

I think they've always kept it visible, haven't they? Also, there's a really weird little Lloyd's TSB around the corner from the main Lloyd's on Cornhill, which has some cashpoints inside a room and I've never really understood it - would there be a reason for them having this small room with some cashpoints in around the corner from the actual bank? It means there are three Lloyd's TSBs within 50m of each other at the moment, with two literally opposite each other and then the weird little thing around the corner.

Also, RE that branch opposite the main branch mentioned earlier yet barely used, it seems it was a Post Office back in the day, and indeed became a TSB at some point and then a Lloyds TSB post-merger.

Whataday wrote:Nobody likes a smart arse but, 'thead'?

Good point, I should have used the proper term. Also you spelled thread wrong.


Meanwhile, I noticed this monstrosity in Glasgow today:

Pete wrote:I got my Welcome to TSB letter the other day. Have Lloyds ones gone out too?

We got our Lloyds ones the day before the TSB ones.

Critique wrote:

madmusician wrote:

Pete wrote:
I got my Welcome to TSB letter the other day. Have Lloyds ones gone out too?

Yep - got a snazzy booklet through the post at the start of this week. Lots of information of the bank's ethos.

Snatches of the new font around the (newly refitted) Ipswich branch already, ahead of Monday's big reveal when the temporary signage will come down. And the change back to the Lloyds Bank name means that the old sign emblazoned into the glass above the door can be visible again. Lovely!

I think they've always kept it visible, haven't they? Also, there's a really weird little Lloyd's TSB around the corner from the main Lloyd's on Cornhill, which has some cashpoints inside a room and I've never really understood it - would there be a reason for them having this small room with some cashpoints in around the corner from the actual bank? It means there are three Lloyd's TSBs within 50m of each other at the moment, with two literally opposite each other and then the weird little thing around the corner.

Also, RE that branch opposite the main branch mentioned earlier yet barely used, it seems it was a Post Office back in the day, and indeed became a TSB at some point and then a Lloyds TSB post-merger.

That small room is actually part of the main North Lloyds TSB, and was there for cashpoint use before the additional cashpoints were added outside the front of the branch 10 or so years ago, I think. It certainly doesn't count as a separate branch - it's an additional bank of cashpoints for the main branch, and also gives people DepositPoint access 24/7, as it doesn't close. I lived in Cheltenham for a year (for a gap-year job) and the Lloyds TSB that I used there had something very similar, except in that case the cashpoints and deposit slot were in a kind of hallway to the bank. So it's not an unusual idea, AFAIK.

I also had an additional front page to my latest statement telling me about the merger, oddly stating that I 'often use a branch that will become a TSB'. I really don't think I do (!!) - as the two or three branches that I spread my usage between will all stay as Lloyds - I checked! So I wonder if that was a generic statement put to everyone?

I wonder how they decided which branches were to be kept as Lloyds and which were to become TSB? It's not simply decided by what they were before the merger, as the branch in George Street, Hull was originally a TSB (it's still possible to tell where the sign was), but will now be a Lloyds.

JAS84 wrote:I wonder how they decided which branches were to be kept as Lloyds and which were to become TSB? It's not simply decided by what they were before the merger, as the branch in George Street, Hull was originally a TSB (it's still possible to tell where the sign was), but will now be a Lloyds.

Well most TSBs would have been closed anyway in most towns, where there was already a Lloyds I'd imagine. It would have just been a small cross section of the less valuable buildings in areas they didn't already have a C&G. There really wont be that many TSBs compared to Lloyds.

This branch pictured on the Lloyds TSB Wikipedia page in Teddington will suddenly look pretty close to how it should in terms of branding.

Critique wrote: Also, there's a really weird little Lloyd's TSB around the corner from the main Lloyd's on Cornhill, which has some cashpoints inside a room and I've never really understood it - would there be a reason for them having this small room with some cashpoints in around the corner from the actual bank? It means there are three Lloyd's TSBs within 50m of each other at the moment, with two literally opposite each other and then the weird little thing around the corner?

One thing I like about Germany and Italy is that they have their cashpoints indoors in a foyer of the bank which requires a swipe of a debit card to enter. Therefore you're not out in the cold and its a bit more secure. The branch itself has a second set of doors that can be locked at closing time (which appears to be 23.5hrs of the day).

Also Italy's mafia protection capsule entrance systems are always very small. Not sure if they'd work over here with some of the fatties.

Critique wrote:It means there are three Lloyd's TSBs within 50m of each other at the moment, with two literally opposite each other and then the weird little thing around the corner.

Doesn't beat Cardiff's record of having 3 Santanders within 10m of each other, two next door to each other (former B&B and A&L), one directly opposite (former Abbey). There's also a fourth about 50m down the road on the same street. They've tried to brand one of them as a 'Student Branch' even though the nearest uni already has a Santander branch at the Student Union.

Each branch is understaffed so instead of one well run, convenient bank you have four with needlessly long queues.

And they insist on having one member of staff wander around the queue trying to shorten it by pulling people out of it but failing miserably as all the customers require counter service.

Pete wrote:One thing I like about Germany and Italy is that they have their cashpoints indoors in a foyer of the bank which requires a swipe of a debit card to enter.

I like this too. I've seen it at the Bank of Scotland on Earl Grey Street in Edinburgh.
Similarly, Nationwide on George Street also has this option if you want to bypass the cash machine outside and use the Fast Cash and Cheque version inside the branch for deposits at the machine, as well as withdrawals. The rest of the branch is behind shutters out of hours.