Banks offer coffee bars and free workspaces to attract customers to branches. And you don’t even have to be a customer to use them.
More than 6,000 branches of banks and building societies have closed since January 2015, reports consumer group Which? A growing number of those who remain are reinventing spaces to stay relevant and ensure survival.
Could fresh coffee save struggling high street shops, or simply delay the inevitable? Toby Walne visits three to find out.
‘Where’s the bank?’ Toby Walne visited three workspaces offered by Halifax, Santander and Virgin Money, where customers can buy coffee and tap away on their laptops
Halifax, New Oxford Street, London
This £31.5 million flagship facility boasts 13,500 sq ft of prime real estate across three floors in central London.
On Thursdays, just before noon, outside the branch, the streets are packed with shoppers and tourists.
But step inside and it’s an oasis of calm: just three staff members present and half a dozen customers looking lost in the warehouse-sized building.
To my left are six ATMs – ‘takeaway’ and ‘deployed’ – plus a couple of old blue-painted GPO payphones with customers invited to step inside to call Halifax. There are seven couches and a handful of cozy chairs around the edges, but I feel self-conscious in all this space.
A giant TV screen advises me to ‘go upstairs to the café to recharge’.
On the second floor there is a ‘Home Hub’ where six people enjoy a team building lunch. The space also contains three meeting rooms plus a ‘video room’, an empty ‘child savings room’ and a ‘home purchase room’.
I hate to think about how much this sofa costs. Halifax will close 119 locations this year and next
The Kitchen coffee bar is open. A flat white costs €3.14, but barista Kaja convinces me to part with €4.50 – including a slice of caramel shortcake.
The coffee shop is a Change Please store where the profits “equip homeless people with the tools and training to become baristas.”
It’s the only thing that makes sense at this bank.
There are two long sofas for eight people and two smaller tables for four people. I have a bench for myself and sign up for the free WiFi.
I try to follow the advice of one of the bank’s Orwellian posters to ‘Make yourself at home’ and continue typing on my laptop.
According to website The Move Market, this flagship was purchased in May 2018 for £31.5 million. Small branches cost around £590,000 a year, according to regulator the Financial Conduct Authority.
So I dread to think how much this one costs. Halifax will close 119 locations this year and next.
Santander Work Café, London
Close to Regent’s Park is the Santander Work Café. Inside, two employees stand in the foyer. I ask someone: ‘Where is the bank?’ She replies, “We can get someone to help you if you need it, but we’re mostly digital.”
The open space includes sofas, soft chairs and seven desk spaces plus two large tables where I can each seat eight people. I count 23 people who ‘work’ instead of bank.
There are half a dozen private rooms with several separate meeting rooms. A jukebox screen on the wall is fortunately turned off. There are a few ATMs.
At 1pm the main attraction seems to be the Work Café, run by The Colombian Coffee Company. If I pay with a Santander debit or credit card, I get a 30 percent discount.
‘Library-like’: The atmosphere in the Santander Work Café was good to continue working
The Flat White costs £4.20 but gives a better caffeine kick than the Halifax. Once again, the staff use their sales pitches to convince me to part with £8 to enjoy the coffee, a £6 sandwich and a snack.
I opt for the coleslaw sandwich with tofu and coconut after barista Andrea told me I would love it.
The library-like atmosphere is conducive to working, the free Wi-Fi is fast and there are electrical outlets everywhere.
Slogans on the wall, such as ‘No one can get there just by being talented’ indicate that this is a workspace.
This ‘bank’ is part of a £27 million redevelopment of the Santander headquarters in 2001 to which it is attached, and opened just a year ago to join Work Cafés in Leeds and Milton Keynes.
The staff is ready if you need help. After my first and last tofu sandwich ever, I leave at 2 p.m.
Virgin Money, Birmingham
The exterior of this glass-fronted bank in the city center gives no warning that it is anything other than a typical modern bank.
The doors slide open and at the front there is a counter manned by branch manager Kelly. But instead of receiving financial help, I am offered coffee.
She explains that I am not standing at a bank counter, but at a ‘jabar’ where, after being provided with a drink, we can discuss my wishes. The place is empty when I visit apart from three staff members.
There are a few “cash rooms” off to the side for privacy, but Kelly says she usually stays “on stage” in the plush seating area.
She says teaching customers how to bank online is an important part of the job. After explaining that I’m not here for banking – or a Virgin customer – I expect to be kicked out.
But Kelly says I can work at the facility for free, including the use of internet and electricity. If we were a group of four we could book a meeting room for a suggested donation of £25 or £50.
The coffee from a vending machine is free, but the quality is poor compared to other bank baristas.
This is one of eight Virgin ‘coffee lounges’ – but it still feels more like a bank to me than a place to work.
I sit in a cubicle labeled “Grow bolder, not older.” Maybe these barista bars will finally soften me up a bit – because I even like this company slogan. Unlike other branches, this outlet does not cost more to run than it would if it were a traditional bank.
Not everyone is convinced.
Passerby Pat Parkin, 75, tells me: ‘If I want coffee, I go to a coffee shop. All these banks are playing the same game: they are pushing us towards online banking. Coffee bars are a gentle way to achieve this.’
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