Bank of England offices move from cities

Bank of England offices move from cities

By Chris Tighe

Published: May 16 2008 23:34 | Last updated: May 16 2008 23:34

The Old Lady is staying in Threadneedle Street. But her provincial cousins are having to leave their imposing listed buildings for bland business parks as even the core of the country’s financial establishment moves to pare back.

The Bank of England’s 12 regional agents are its eyes and ears in the real economy and their reports help inform the monetary policy committee in its deliberations on interest rates.

Until a few months ago most of them occupied central city offices, including several listed buildings of outstanding heritage value. But to cut costs and ex­ploit advances in information technology, the Bank has been moving its regional offices to smaller premises, many in business parks near motorways.

The Newcastle and Nottingham agents have moved from listed premises to modern out-of-town offices . The Cardiff agency has left a harbour location for a business park near the M4.

The Manchester premises, which were relatively new but located behind the Bank of England’s Grade I listed premises in King Street, and the Liverpool office, in a landmark building, have amalgamated and moved to a Warrington business park.

The Bank said it was “always looking at ways of making sure we aren’t spending too much money on our functions”.

The North East agency last month left a Newcastle city centre Grade I 18th-century merchant’s house, boasting plaster work, wood panelling and elegant staircase, for a modern office outside the city, near a dual carriageway network and the airport. North East agent David Buffham said: “I was part of the decision to move here. The previous premises were rather an outlier in style.”