Felicity Bunce welcomes the Bank of England Leeds office, where the Bank can finally represent local voices from a larger room with better lighting.
The Bank of England has discovered a robust way to bring power closer to the regions. It can secure a larger office in Leeds and describe the extra floor space as listening. Felicity Bunce, senior auditor at the Office of Regional Sincerity, welcomed the announcement. “At last, local voices will have somewhere impressive to wait while the national voice finishes,” she said.
A larger listening room
The Bank says it has secured long term premises at Capitol House in Bond Court. The Bank says it intends the site to support collaboration and innovation. It also plans for the site to deliver key central banking functions across London and Leeds, then eventually replace the current base at Yorkshire House. Martin Quill, director of the Department for Spatial Reassurance, said the building offered “the exact floor plan required for a permanent commitment”.
Just under 300 colleagues already work in Leeds, and the Bank says the new premises will accommodate a growing headcount. This is excellent news for regional representation. It is particularly good for representatives, since the Bank can now represent representatives in greater density. Bunce called the arrangement “a triumph for local presence, provided presence can be measured in desks and access cards”.
The Bank also says the move will strengthen connections with organisations across West Yorkshire and the wider region. It says the move will deepen its understanding of local economies and ensure that its work reflects voices from across the country. Priya Dalloway, head of Listening Infrastructure, said, “We have removed a major barrier to hearing Yorkshire: insufficiently premium meeting rooms.”
The Northern Square Mile
The announcement celebrates Leeds’s financial and professional services sector as the Northern Square Mile. Local leaders present the new base as a vote of confidence in the region. Gerald Pymm, deputy director of the Northern Square Mile Welcome Office, said Leeds was delighted to receive “a national institution with a northern address and a metropolitan lease”. The city has apparently achieved equality by acquiring the sort of building London would recognise.
The Bank’s Location Strategy Programme also includes refurbishing its Threadneedle Street site. It will consolidate the Bank’s property footprint in London by the end of 2028. Celia Frobisher, from the Office of Balanced Geography, insisted this was not a retreat from the capital. “London remains central,” she said. “Leeds is being promoted to somewhere London can visit when it wants to understand the regions.”
Construction at Capitol House is due to begin in October. The Bank plans to move in late 2028. By then, the Bank will have a permanent Leeds base and a tidier London footprint. It will also have a fresh vocabulary for calling a property decision public representation. Bunce has submitted her finding: “The Bank has decentralised the furniture and kept the power.”
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