Click Here or Scroll down the page for the index to Departments

For the older ones amongst us Head Office would have been Infirmary Street, later, for all of us it would be Merrion Way.

The first "Head Office" was the home of  William Magson Nelson, the first Secretary, in Skinner Lane, Leeds., a house which has long since been demolished..  When the bank was ready to open for business in  1858 it was felt that more professional address was needed, and the  Executive Committee signed a lease on the ground floor of 2 East Parade, Leeds, very close to the present junction with Infirmary Street.  In 1865 part of the ground floor was opened as the first "Daily Branch" opening every day for normal banking hours. By 1883 the Bank was occupying the whole of 2 East Parade, and by  1890 the Bank had outgrown the premises.  Land was bought on Infirmary Street, the site of the old Infirmary,  and the new building was opened by the Duke of Devonshire on  7 August 1894.

In 1911 after  brief period of  liquidity issues the Bank was taken over by a group of major banks and was renamed "Yorkshire Penny Bank Ltd".  Temporary offices were taken at 1A Lombard Street, then more permanent premises at  26 King Street (close to Cheapside).  In 1923 a branch was opened in the King Street premises and both Foreign and Stock & Share Departments transferred there.  in 1930 the branch and departments were moved to Farleigh House, 97 - 99 Cheapside, acfross the road from the final London Office .  The appointment of Harry Ashworth as London Office Manager in 1939 and his subsequent promotion to AGM and GM brought General Management to London on a more permanant basis.  In its centenary year, 1959, the London Office was moved across the road to the corner of Bow Lane, next door to St Mary le Bow.

General Manager and his team were based in the offices above the branch in Cheapside, London.  They had to be close to the City, where the action was.  Then, as communication became more efficient and there was no need to be  “on the spot” General Manager E.C. Muxlow spent more and more of his time in Yorkshire, with offices on the ground floor of Infirmary Street, the building where the Head Office departments which did not need access to the City were already based.  The address of the Registered Office was changed from Cheapside to Infirmary Street in 1973.

Infirmary Street rapidly filled and a satellite office was opened in Queen Street to add to the already existing Allerton House in Chapel Allerton, which had been home to Premises and Supplies Departments as well as the new Data Processing Department.  A new centre was built to house the Burroughs computer which was to power the bank’s accounting system and there was a continual juggling of departments to make the best use of the available space.  Training School was brought in from the rented offices in Headingly to take rooms in Allerton House and by the Annual Report of 1970 the Head Office departments and their locations were listed as follows: -

• General Management based in Infirmary Street but also in London Office.
• London Office for Foreign and Stock & Share Departments and Fund Management.
• Infirmary Street for Regional Control (including Advances), Chief Accountants, Inspection and Personnel.
• Queen Street for Personal Credit and Trustee.
• Allerton House for DPD, Training School, Premises and Supplies (which would soon be renamed Stationery).

As we continued to grow Departments continued to be moved:  Stationery moved to a purpose built warehouse in Bramley, Leeds, in 1971 leaving room in Allerton House for Trustee, Inspection and Chief Accountants.  Personnel moved to Queen Street, along with YBF.

There was still insufficient room, so a new building was commissioned at Merrion Way, aimed at bringing all the departments together. Within a few years even that space was insufficient, and offices were taken in the Merrion House, opposite Merrion Way and later in Brunswick Point close by.