‘Everyone is proud of it’: dismay in Halifax at Lloyds’ threat to historic brand

On a moody afternoon, near the sandstone terraces of Halifax’s Gibbet street, David Glover, a local historian, is opening the gates to Lister Lane cemetery. Usually closed to the public, the burial ground is being opened today as an exception. Because here, among towering spires and the tombs of wealthy industrialists, lie the founders of one of West Yorkshire’s most famous exports: Halifax building society. “Halifax has a number of superlatives,” says Glover, who serves as president of the Halifax Antiquarian Society. “It had the largest carpet manufacturer in the world, which was Crossley Carpets of Dean Clough. And it was the starting place of what became the greatest building society in the world, and I think everybody in Halifax is still quite proud of it.” But what remains of the building society’s legacy is under threat after it emerged this week that Lloyds Banking Group was considering axing the near-173-year-old Halifax brand, which would scrub the name from Britain’s high streets once and for all. While the bank insists that a final decision has not yet been made, it is understood that a phaseout could start as soon as July, before being fully scrapped by October. View image in fullscreen A Halifax branch in the city centre. For most local people the brand ‘means a lot’. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian As for what the building society’s Victorian-era founders might think? “They would be absolutely horrified,” Glover says. Lloyds took ownership of the Halifax brand nearly two decades ago in January 2009, when the financial crisis and a series of bad business decisions brought the combined Halifa Bank of Scotland group to its knees. By then, Halifax had long deviated from its building society roots, with members having voted to demutualise in the mid-1990s in the wake of Thatcher-era reforms. Halifax morphed into a listed bank with bona fide shareholders, before merging with the Bank of Scotland in 2001. Seven years later, after the £20bn taxpayer-backed Lloyds takeover, HBOS was suddenly at the centre of one of Britain’s largest banking scandals, as it emerged that managers at its Reading branch were pushing small business customers into failure and stripping them of assets. An independent review, led by the former high court judge Dame Linda Dobbs, is still determining whether Lloyds tried to cover up the scandal. View image in fullscreen The original headquarters of the Halifax Permanent Benefit building society, established in 1853. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian But even 29 years after Halifax lost its mutual status – and despite the controversy, takeovers, and government bailout – Halifax residents are still fiercely loyal to the brand. Down the road, in a crystals store lining the Halifax’s historical, imposing Piece Hall – once a hub for Georgian textile trading – Jayne Spence, a 59-year-old shopworker, is lamenting the potential loss of the Halifax name on Britain’s high streets. “I’ve always had an account with Halifax, mortgages with the Halifax, practically all my life, so it’s a big thing.” The 59-year-old worries that “pencil pushers” at Lloyds may be underestimating its importance to local residents. “It means a lot to the people of Halifax, which is where it started. It’s a big thing and [chancellor] Rachel Reeves, worked there, didn’t she? Think about the people that actually built the brand up. Think about the little people that have got you into such a high status, so to speak.” View image in fullscreen Jayne Spence: ‘Think about the little people.’ Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Nasar Ahmed: ‘People have got a lot of love for it.’ Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Nasar Ahmed, 50, worked at the Halifax as a graduate before it merged with Bank of Scotland. “Growing up, obviously all my family banked with it. My dad came [to Halifax] in 1962 and he’s always banked with Halifax,” he says, adding that his father, like many other customers, still referred to the lender as the Halifax building society. Ahmed thinks Lloyds is only considering digital banking. “They’re thinking about where their new customer base is, which is mainly online. So they’re getting rid of the high street brand, the high-street processes there. And they’re looking to reduce cost as much as possible.” But eradicating the brand would have a “massive” impact on loyal customers and the wider region, he says. “It will be a big loss to the high street. … even if it’s rebranded as Lloyds. Think about the loyalty to the brand, the commitment to the brand. People have still got a link to it, people have got affiliation to it, especially in Halifa the birthplace of the bank itself. They’ve got a lot of love for it.” View image in fullscreen Dara Adakoy: ‘I’m not bothered.’ Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian But some Halifax residents, such as 35-year-old Dara Adakoy, are indifferent. “It’s just about the transition for the older gener