Metro Bank is to open its first ‘drive-to’ bank in Chiswick, West London. The store, on a prime corner site on Chiswick High Road with dedicated customer parking, has just received planning consent and will be opening in 2012. Cushman & Wakefield will be advising Metro Bank on all future property acquisitions.
Metro Bank has ambitious expansion plans and will open 10 new stores in 2012 and 200 in the next decade. Stores are open in Holborn, Earl’s Court, Borehamwood, Fulham Broadway, Tottenham Court Road, Kensington, Croydon and Bromley and Uxbridge. Hounslow and High Wycombe following shortly.
Calum Ewing, Partner in Cushman & Wakefield’s Central London Retail Team, who has acted for Metro Bank on all London and South East store acquisitions for the last four years, said, “Metro Bank, Britain’s first retail bank in over 100 years, is a refreshing alternative to the established UK banks by providing the ultimate in customer service and convenience. This deal was unique in that Metro Bank carried out the planning, and will also be constructing the building, with the landlord only having to decontaminate the site. De-risking sites like this should be a very attractive model for landlords.”
Metro Bank is seeking retail stores in prime and prominent corner locations, with full height glazing, high ceilings and strong pedestrian footfall. Town centre, front of shopping centres, retail parks or roadside locations will all be considered especially close to foodstores, rail and underground stations and other nodes of activity. Metro Bank requires a minimum of 3,500 sq ft on the ground floor only, with parking where appropriate, and will take 25-year leases as well as buying freeholds and developing sites itself.