EuroBeuro

EuroBeuro, 175 High Street, Banstead, Surrey, 2001 • Santa wants his country back.

Lloyds Bank (Guildford)

Lloyds Bank, 147 High Street, Guildford, Surrey, 2016 • Superbly ornate old bank, which survives thanks to royalty: an inscription on the wall says: “Guildford Old Bank. Established 1765. This […]

HSBC (Hexham)

HSBC, Fore Street, Hexham, Northumberland, 2016 • Curious 1896 Italianate bank by George Dale Oliver, then county architect for Cumberland. The ornate red sandstone frieze (artist unknown) shows 16 putti holding swags […]

Barclays (Loughborough)

Barclays (Loughborough), 3 Market Place, Loughborough, Leicestershire, 2016 • Stern Stalinist-style neoclassical eagle plaque for proud local financial hub. I just love bespoke old bank buildings.

Afro Supermarket

Afro Supermarket, 87 Gravel Street, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Multicultural modernist tiling in the brutalist quarter of this fascinating city.

Nicholas

Nicholas, 147 Friar Street, Reading RG1, 2016 • Grand premises for an estate agent founded in 1882, but no longer resident. Note beautiful teak 1960s door handles in Profil font […]

Guardian Assurance Building

Guardian Assurance Building, 21-23 Clare Street, Bristol BS1, 2015 • Not sure what lies behind this impressive marble and steel portal now, but it’s not insurance firm Guardian Assurance, which was established […]

Bureau de Change (Earl’s Court)

Bureau de Change, Praed Street, Earl’s Court, City of Westminster, London W2, 2010 • Tiny grand building with romantic decay and incongruous metal cladding, now boringly spruced up.

Allworthy Bros

Allworthy Bros, 13, 15 Camden High Street, Borough of Camden, London NW1, 2003 • “Money advanced on pictures, bronzes, violins &c &c” says this wonderful old pawnbroker’s sign above a Dickensian-looking yard […]

Barclays Bank (Temple Fortune)

Barclays Bank (Temple Fortune), 802-806 Finchley Road, Borough of Barnet, London NW11, 2016 • Old-style marble and gold Barclays eagle on a branch with a name straight out of the Hobbit, in […]

Ex-Barclays Bank (Sutton)

Ex-Barclays Bank (Sutton), 238 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, 2002 • Aah, textures of grey and the ghost of an old-style Barclays Bank eagle logo.

HSBC (Hockley)

HSBC (Hockley), 168 Warstone Lane, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B18, 2005 • Lovely little bank with Victorian sculpture above the door, which is still the same now. One source says it dates from 1892 […]

Yorkshire Bank (Middlesbrough)

Yorkshire Bank (Middlesbrough), 303-7 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, 2013 • There’s nice steel detailing on this, which looks early 1960s. Yorkshire Bank is still going, though owned by National Australia Bank, who […]

Westminster Bank Limited (Kennington)

Westminster Bank Limited, Kennington Park Road, Lambeth, London SE11, 2001 • Founded 1834, lasted till 1970 then became National Westminster. It’s still there, though the car isn’t – it’s my trusty […]

Northern Rock

Northern Rock, 214-216 High Street, Dorking, Surrey, 2002 • This seemed boring at the time but I was attracted by the neglected-looking logo. Who could have guessed that such  faded suburban dullness […]

Blessed Assurance Co.

Blessed Assurance Co., 201 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Truly blessed, as it was still there over a decade later.

Inter Biz

Inter Biz, 1d Blenheim Grove, Peckham, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Wonkily hand-painted one-stop shop for a bewildering array of financial services. A note on the door says ‘Am down the […]

Lloyds TSB (Oxford Street)

Lloyds TSB (Oxford Street), 32 Oxford Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2003 • Now for a bit of summer shopping grimness, and where better to start than Europe’s busiest shopping […]

Chelsea Building Society clock

Chelsea Building Society clock, 7 Ashley Road, Epsom, Surrey, 2002 • Groovy swingin’ 70s-style timepiece. I wish I’d photographed the whole frontage, the Chelsea’s still around but the logo’s changed, and […]

Kings & Queens

Kings & Queens, 300 Lewisham High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE13, 2010 • Not very palace-like. Now has a plain purple sign, with windows by Lycamobile.

Yorkshire Bank (Peterborough)

Yorkshire Bank (Peterborough), 10 Church Street, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, 2015 • Nice cartouche!

Lloyds Bank (Shrewsbury)

Lloyds Bank (Shrewsbury), 1 Pride Hill, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • Elegant brutalist building in a mainly olde-worlde town. Note triangular Civic Trust award, I think it says 1969.

Lloyds TSB (Rottingdean)

Lloyds TSB, 55 High Street, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Grand entrance for a small-town bank, although given the amount of money banks were flinging around at this point, they could […]

Sir Robert Peel, Krystals Express

Sir Robert Peel, Krystals Express, 178 Bishopsgate, City of London, London EC2, 2004 • Something of an oddity – commemorative 1930s tiling on a circa 1900 pub named after the prime […]

Rampdale Insurance Brokers Ltd

Rampdale Insurance Brokers Ltd, 127 High Road, Finchley, Borough of Barnet, London N2, 2003 • More wonky perspex vehicles. The firm’s no longer there – it looks like they moved to Hatfield.

Wine & Co.

Wine & Co., 20-22 Bridge End, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Accountant with built-in timer – useful!

Thornton & Co Ltd

Thornton & Co Ltd, 50-51 Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Next door to M&S is this re-purposed HQ of an India rubber manufacturer. Moral: cast your name in stone if you […]

Sons of Temperance Friendly Society

Sons of Temperance Friendly Society, 176-177 Blackfriars Road, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2014 • Former HQ of a 19th-century financial co-operative for teetotallers, now being wound down; they sold the […]

RM The Company Shop

RM The Company Shop, 81 City Road, Borough of Islington, London EC1, 2002 • Forget the Virgin Islands, I’d happily run my company from this impressive-looking HQ. Except I can’t, because […]

Harman’s

Harman’s Post Office & Savings Bank, Sutton Lane North, Chiswick, Borough of Hounslow, London W4, 2010 • Offering remarkably varied services, this old sign was still on display in 2012, along […]

John Kimpton & Co

John Kimpton & Co Insurance Services, 85 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Recalling the heady days when anyone could get a mortgage. Now a curtain shop.