After Council rejects plans as it deemed the look of the new branch 'incongruous'

The Putney branch of Santander closed at the start of September for refurbishment including the proposed expansion next door into the empty site that was formerly Oliver Bonas. The bank had applied to Wandsworth Council planning department to establish the Putney branch as the first UK 'Work Café' concept which is currently being run by the bank in branches in Spain, Brazil and Chile.

Wandsworth Council rejected the initial application in September with the rejection document stating, 'The shop front at 86 Putney High Street, by reason of its design and materials, would constitute an incongruous and inappropriate addition to the front of the property and would result in an inactive shop frontage. The proposal would be out of keeping, cause visual harm to the appearance and character of the host property and street scene and would be detriment to the vitality of the Putney
Town Centre.

A spokesperson for the council told this website, "We have absolutely no problem with the concept here and gave the bank very supportive pre-application advice about what kind of shopfront would be acceptable, but for reasons known only to themselves they came back with plans for something totally unacceptable.


Original proposed frontage (planning application 2018/3247 ) (Click for full size detail)

“Instead of a welcoming and attractive glass frontage which would tally with all other high street shopfronts, theirs proposed a combination of forbidding and unfriendly metal and black plastic screens, totally out of keeping with neighbouring shops. The bank can of course come back to us with a more reasonable and sympathetic design which we will happily consider but we make no apology for rejecting a shopfront that resembles some kind of armoured fortress and would have had an adverse impact on other shops and businesses in Putney town centre.”

The Work Café concept not only offers traditional banking services, but expands to offer a coffee shop, shared office space for local businesses, with free internet, meeting rooms and video-conferencing facilities.


Work Café combines banking and cafe in Chile

A spokesperson for Santander told this website: "Santander is committed to a viable branch network that supports communities with banking and other services. As we continue to see an increase in mobile and online banking for everyday transactions, the nature of the bank branch will need to evolve. The Work Café concept, from Santander in Chile, gives both Santander and the community an amazing facility, that allows local business and entrepreneurs access to a free work space, meeting rooms and community hub. We will continue working with Wandsworth Borough Council on our plans for our Putney branch, and will look at other suitable branches in the UK in 2019.

Details of the planning application can be found online.

On 7 December,Metro Bank is opening its first 'store' in Putney at 89-93 Putney High Street on the ground floor of the newly developed site on the corner with Montserrat Road.

November 28, 2018