Wellington Town Council secures former bank building

Wellington Town Council has bought the former Halifax building in the town centre, a meeting has been told.

Details of how much the town council has paid for the building in Duke Street remain confidential but when it hit the market earlier this year it had a freehold sale price of £250,000.

Councillor Paul Davis (Labour, Park Ward) made the announcement at the full council meeting on Tuesday, October 14.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to announce that the town council has become a landlord in waiting. We have managed to secure the Halifax building,” he said.

And councillor Davis also revealed some of the strategy behind the decision to secure a major asset in the town centre.

The town council wants to try to see if the Post Office, which is adjoined to the market in Market Street, will want to move from there to the building in Duke Street.

The Duke Street purchase also includes a small unit next door, a car park at the rear and floors above.

Councillor Davis said: “We have a position whereby we can enter negotiations to try and see the post office relocated to that building.”

He added that there it will mean a “lot of discussions ahead” but that it “ultimately the ambition.”

The meeting was told that the upstairs of the two storey building is “awaiting a surveyors report” to help determine its best use.

Councillor Davis, who is also a member of Telford & Wrekin Council’s ruling cabinet said: “Essentially it is an asset for the town” which they hope will “generate revenue.”

The building is in the same area of the town as the former YMCA which is close to being completed in a major project for retail and housing by the borough council.

The Halifax building was among a list of 55 closures announced by Lloyds Banking Group in September last year, and shut its doors for the final time on January 7.

Announcing the closures Lloyds said the rise of online banking left its branches under-used, with over-the-counter transactions having fallen by as much as 50 per cent in some of the branches.