Farewell, then, Badger Baiters Arms. Farewell Taste of Gandhi. Farewell, also, round the back of Sainsbury’s, scene of many a happy half hour whiled away by your occasional correspondent Bankstone News in solemn contemplation of the inscrutably turbid waters of the Calder whilst knocking back a four-pack or two of Special Brew.
Hard to imagine, really, that after all this time – 16 years, to be precise – our esteemed sponsors, celebrated professional claims handlers Bankstone Limited, are decamping dear old Brighouse and making tracks for pastures new.
Where are you off to then, Bankstone News inquired with feigned nonchalance after stumbling unexpectedly upon a clipboard-wielding Dixon Tickson (Bankstone’s fur-faced MD) looking on as a gang of masked men humped furniture in the back of a van.
For some reason he seemed reluctant to divulge an address, muttering something about there not really being a desk spare for the Bankstone News team at the new offices (news of our relocation to which, strangely, no-one had seen fit to mention previously).
But he was no match in the end for our dogged probing, and confessed the offices are in a plush new conversion of an historic engine house in Halifax that once served a mill just up the hill. Holroyds Mill, he said its name was. ‘No, HOL-royds,’ he clarified testily, brutally truncating your correspondent’s unworthy sniggers.
That was all a few days back. The entire Bankstone Team are now happily ensconced in their enviable new quarters. Or they would be if they weren’t mostly working from home – which Tixon says they can seamlessly do now, as the whole show takes place in The Clouds these days in any case.
You’ll probably know what that means. If not, there’s no point asking Bankstone News. DT says it ‘delivers improved resilience, security and business continuity for Bankstone’s clients and partners’ and has meant they could switch locations with ‘zero disruption to customer service.’ Which, Bankstone News assumes, is a good thing.
As for those hi-spec new offices – we’re hoping to see them ourselves sometime soon, and we’ll tell you all about them when we have. Although, apparently, it would just be more convenient if we stayed away for a bit, just while they’re settling in, and they’ll definitely be in touch as and when.
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