Virgin Money to close almost a third of its bank branches — here's the full list, plus alternatives

jon81uk

boingy said:

jon81uk said:

boingy said:

jon81uk said:

gsmh said:

I really liked the Clydesdale Bank. It had a great heritage. I was happy to have my main current account with them. Then they got all vulgar and bought into the Virgin brand. Now they're all fur coats and no knickers.

But also have removed a lot of the unique things Virgin were trying such as the lounges and the free coffee.

Like many I no longer use branches but if I was queuing to be served in one and I was surrounded by a free coffee lounge I'd be thinking "Get rid of the ****ing lounge and put some more staff on the counter!"

The original Virgin Money lounges weren't branches, there was no counter.

Haha! Really? What's that about? Perhaps you are meant to do your banking at Costa or something.

Originally it was in addition to branches as a free service. So bascially it was intended as a perk of having a card/account with them you got free coffee and somewhere to sit.
Virgin Money to spend £3m a year on lounges | Financial Times (ft.com)

jbrassy

I would be quite happy if they shut all their branches and used the money saved to offer better savings rates on their accounts or lower rates on their mortgages. I've had an account with VM for a few years and never seen a branch, let alone stepped in one. To be honest, I assumed they were online only!

[Deleted User]

boingy said:

jon81uk said:

boingy said:

jon81uk said:

gsmh said:

I really liked the Clydesdale Bank. It had a great heritage. I was happy to have my main current account with them. Then they got all vulgar and bought into the Virgin brand. Now they're all fur coats and no knickers.

But also have removed a lot of the unique things Virgin were trying such as the lounges and the free coffee.

Like many I no longer use branches but if I was queuing to be served in one and I was surrounded by a free coffee lounge I'd be thinking "Get rid of the ****ing lounge and put some more staff on the counter!"

The original Virgin Money lounges weren't branches, there was no counter.

Haha! Really? What's that about? Perhaps you are meant to do your banking at Costa or something.

There were two different set ups - 

The lounges were a relic of the pre-merger Virgin Money and mostly full of rich OAPs saving their pennies whenever I visited and quite hard to get a free coffee. 

The branches with coffee and workspaces were their old B offering rebranded Virgin Money.

It's important to understand that although the Virgin Money brand was retained, it was essentially Clydesdale Bank taking over VM. 

pridehappy

My local Virgin Money branch is closing. To be honest, I’m not surprised. For a small town we have HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Barclay’s, Skipton Building Society and Newcastle Building Society. I’d expect more of these to close.

It’s 25 miles to the other nearest branches although due to being well connected, it’s a quick 15-20 minute journey usually by car, train or bus. 

I’ll continue to bank with Virgin Money as I enjoy their service and products, although with the local Nationwide being further away, looks like I’m going to have to service accounts at Lloyds Bank if I need a branch (which I’m not looking forward to!)

[Deleted User]

Lloyds are far superior to VM in terms of in-branch customer service.

VM, RBS & TSB all tend to compete for bottom slots. 

ForumUser7

[Deleted User] said:

Lloyds are far superior to VM in terms of in-branch customer service.

VM, RBS & TSB all tend to compete for bottom slots. 

I guess it just all depends on the branch itself - my closest TSB branch's staff are fantastic and quite possibly the best branch staff I deal with. But TSB has very low ratings in the MSE poll.

Eco_Miser

[Deleted User] said:

boingy said:

jon81uk said:

boingy said:

jon81uk said:

gsmh said:

I really liked the Clydesdale Bank. It had a great heritage. I was happy to have my main current account with them. Then they got all vulgar and bought into the Virgin brand. Now they're all fur coats and no knickers.

But also have removed a lot of the unique things Virgin were trying such as the lounges and the free coffee.

Like many I no longer use branches but if I was queuing to be served in one and I was surrounded by a free coffee lounge I'd be thinking "Get rid of the ****ing lounge and put some more staff on the counter!"

The original Virgin Money lounges weren't branches, there was no counter.

Haha! Really? What's that about? Perhaps you are meant to do your banking at Costa or something.

There were two different set ups - 

The lounges were a relic of the pre-merger Virgin Money and mostly full of rich OAPs saving their pennies whenever I visited and quite hard to get a free coffee. 

The branches with coffee and workspaces were their old B offering rebranded Virgin Money.

It's important to understand that although the Virgin Money brand was retained, it was essentially Clydesdale Bank taking over VM. 

The Virgin Money brand was not just retained, it was rolled out to all the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank branches as well, and the CYBG holding company was renamed Virgin Money, and the existing Virgin Money shareholders became CYBG (quickly renamed Virgin Money) shareholders. Not as simple as Clydesdale Bank essentially taking over VM.

WillPS

Eco_Miser said:

[Deleted User] said:

boingy said:

jon81uk said:

boingy said:

jon81uk said:

gsmh said:

I really liked the Clydesdale Bank. It had a great heritage. I was happy to have my main current account with them. Then they got all vulgar and bought into the Virgin brand. Now they're all fur coats and no knickers.

But also have removed a lot of the unique things Virgin were trying such as the lounges and the free coffee.

Like many I no longer use branches but if I was queuing to be served in one and I was surrounded by a free coffee lounge I'd be thinking "Get rid of the ****ing lounge and put some more staff on the counter!"

The original Virgin Money lounges weren't branches, there was no counter.

Haha! Really? What's that about? Perhaps you are meant to do your banking at Costa or something.

There were two different set ups - 

The lounges were a relic of the pre-merger Virgin Money and mostly full of rich OAPs saving their pennies whenever I visited and quite hard to get a free coffee. 

The branches with coffee and workspaces were their old B offering rebranded Virgin Money.

It's important to understand that although the Virgin Money brand was retained, it was essentially Clydesdale Bank taking over VM. 

The Virgin Money brand was not just retained, it was rolled out to all the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank branches as well, and the CYBG holding company was renamed Virgin Money, and the existing Virgin Money shareholders became CYBG (quickly renamed Virgin Money) shareholders. Not as simple as Clydesdale Bank essentially taking over VM.

It kind of is.

CYBG took over Virgin Money.

CYBG then dropped all their other retail brands and renamed themselves Virgin Money UK.

All locations, including the few former Virgin Money/Northern Rock which live on, are now branches of Clydesdale Bank plc.

The semi-relevant pre-text is that CYBG were already planning a mass rebrand using the 'B' brand, and effectively this is what happened albeit with the Virgin Money brand - the 'new' Virgin Money has more to do with B than it did with the old Virgin Money.