Cheltenham & Gloucester

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UK mortgage and savings provider

title: "Cheltenham & Gloucester" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["lloyds-banking-group", "mortgage-lenders", "defunct-banks-of-the-united-kingdom", "british-companies-established-in-1850", "banks-established-in-1850", "companies-based-in-gloucester", "1850-establishments-in-england"] description: "UK mortgage and savings provider" topic_path: "economics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheltenham_&_Gloucester" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary UK mortgage and savings provider ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

Field	Value
name	Cheltenham & Gloucester plc
logo	Cheltenham & Gloucester.png
logo_size	256px
image	Chelt&Glos.jpg
image_caption	Headquarters of Cheltenham & Gloucester at Barnwood, Gloucestershire
trade_name	C&G
native_name
native_name_lang
type	Subsidiary undertaking
industry	Finance and insurance
fate	Acquired by Lloyds Bank
successor	Lloyds Bank
TSB Bank
foundation	Cheltenham, United Kingdom ()
location_city	Barnwood, Gloucestershire
location_country	United Kingdom
area_served
products	Financial services
parent	Lloyds Banking Group
::

Cheltenham & Gloucester plc (C&G) was a mortgage and savings provider in the United Kingdom. C&G specialised in mortgages and savings products. Previously, C&G was a building society, the Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society. Its headquarters were in Barnwood, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. It was acquired by Lloyds Bank in 2009.

History

Formation and development

C&G can trace its roots back to the Cheltenham and Gloucestershire Permanent Mutual Benefit Building and Investment Association. Its inaugural meeting, held at the Belle Vue Hotel, Cheltenham took place on 7 August 1850, and the society shortened its name to Cheltenham and Gloucestershire Benefit Building Society. The first President of the society was James Downing, of Cheltenham. Downing believed in a philosophy whereupon it was a citizen's duty to help other citizens and this was a driving force for him in helping the poor to achieve stability through home ownership. Even so, the Society was run rather shrewdly, and upon Downing's death in 1868, it had an annual income of £37,000.

At first the Society was based in Cheltenham; its first Gloucester branch opened in 1896. Over the next 80 years, it expanded throughout the UK, opening its 100th branch in Pershore in 1979. During the 1980s, C&G acquired several smaller building societies, as consolidation of the sector intensified. C&G's headquarters were at Cheltenham House in central Cheltenham until their move to Barnwood in 1989. The then building society had commissioned a sculpture by British artist Barbara Hepworth, "Theme and Variations", which can still be seen displayed on the front of Cheltenham House.

In 1984 Cotswold Building Society transferred its undertakings to C&G. This was followed by the Waltham Abbey in 1985, the Colchester, the London Permanent and the Cardiff in 1987, the Essex Equitable and the Bolton in 1988, the Bury St Edmunds in 1989, the Bedford, the Guardian, the Peckham and the Walthamstow in 1990, the Portsmouth and the Bedford Crown in 1991, and the Mid-Sussex in 1992 (despite a controversy surrounding the bank which prompted an investigation by ITV's The Cook Report that year).

In 1993 C&G merged with the Heart of England Building Society. By the mid 1990s it had taken over the Portsmouth, Guardian, Peckham, Walthamstow, Cardiff, Colchester, London Permanent, Bolton, Bury St Edmunds and Essex Equitable building societies.

C&G converted to a bank in 1995. This involved the demutualisation of the society, and generated a windfall payment to its members. It was then acquired by Lloyds Bank later in 1995.

In 2007 C&G was restructured and closed 31 of its 195 branches, resulting in the loss of 315 jobs.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Cheltenham_&Gloucester(storefront,_2007).jpg" caption="A former branch of the C&G in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire - rebranded TSB in September 2013"] ::

On 9 June 2009, it was reported that Lloyds Banking Group would close Cheltenham & Gloucester's 164 branches in November of that year, at the cost of around 1,660 jobs. Lloyds stated that the C&G brand name would be retained for mortgages and savings, while customers could use any branch of Lloyds TSB to access their accounts. However, on 19 August 2009, Lloyds announced that it would review this decision.

C&G had its own staff association, which represented members of staff in the building society for collective bargaining purposes and individual members of the staff association for disciplinary and grievance purposes. In 2004 the staff association merged with the trade union Amicus, retaining its own 'C&GSA' branding until Amicus merged with the TGWU in 2007 to form Unite.

Project Verde

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/C&G_York.jpg" caption="C&G [[York]] branch, before rebranding"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/TSB_York.jpg" caption="C&G York branch, after rebranding"] ::

Speculation had arisen that Lloyds was to sell off C&G after the European Commission demanded in late 2009 that it sell off existing branches in order to allay competition concerns following a bail-out by the UK government. Lloyds announced the creation of Project Verde in November 2009.

In July 2012, it was announced that all of the C&G branches, along with some Lloyds TSB branches, would be sold to The Co-operative Bank and rebranded as TSB. However, in April 2013 the Co-operative Bank decided not to proceed with the acquisition, citing the economic downturn and tougher regulatory environment imposed on banks. Lloyds Banking Group confirmed that the rebranding to TSB would still take place.

On 13 June 2013 the Treasury Select Committee announced an inquiry into the required divestment of the Verde branches and the collapsed bid from The Co-operative Bank. The inquiry published its final report in October 2014.

Closure

In September 2013, all former C&G branches were transferred to the newly established TSB Bank as part of a divestment of a significant portion of the Lloyds TSB business by Lloyds Banking Group. At the formation of the new TSB Bank, C&G no longer had any branches, and was closed to new business. Retained C&G mortgages were administered by Cheltenham and Gloucester plc and provided by Lloyds Bank plc. Retained savings accounts were held with C&G Savings, a trading division of Lloyds Bank plc. Following the transfer of all C&G branches to TSB Bank plc, C&G products could be serviced at Lloyds Bank branches, by phone or by post. By April 2017, all remaining mortgage administration had been transferred to Lloyds Bank and rebranded.

References

Scott, Craig. (2000). "Cheltenham & Gloucester A tradition of change". Cheltenham & Gloucester plc..
"Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society". Lloyds Banking Group.
(23 June 2009). "The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo - 23/06/2009 digital edition". Edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk.
"Theme and Variations". Barbara Hepworth.
Rex, Simon. (1 July 2013). "Building society mergers and conversions since 1980". Building Societies Association.
Goldsmith, Vivien. (6 May 1993). "C&G to merge with Heart of England". The Independent.
The C&G: A brief history. (9 June 2009). ["Gloucestershire - Credit Crunch - The C&G: A brief history"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2009/06/09/cheltenham_gloucester_feature.shtml). *BBC*.
"Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society records". Archives Hub.
Ferreira-Marques, Clara. (8 August 2007). "UK's Lloyds TSB cuts jobs as 31 C&G branches close". Reuters.
Jones, Alan. (9 June 2009). "Lloyds branded a 'disgrace' for C&G branch closures - Business News - Business". The Independent.
(9 June 2009). "Lloyds to close C&G branches". Marketing Week.
(9 June 2009). "Business | Lloyds closing all C&G branches". BBC News.
(19 August 2009). "Business | Lloyds to 'review' closure of C&G". BBC News.
"Finance and Legal - history".
(3 November 2009). "Business | RBS and Lloyds set for sell-offs". BBC News.
"Archived copy".
"Archived copy".
(19 July 2012). "BBC News - Q&A: Co-op buys Lloyds TSB branches". Bbc.co.uk.
(24 April 2013). "Lloyds' branch sale to Co-op falls through". BBC News.
(13 June 2013). "Inquiry into Project Verde set to begin". Insolvency News.
"Project Verde". UK Parliament.
"TSB is back on the high street". Cheltglos.co.uk.
(10 September 2013). "Mortgages and savings from Cheltenham & Gloucester | C&G". Cheltglos.co.uk.
(9 September 2013). "How you contact us". Cheltglos.co.uk.
"Important information about your Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) mortgage". Cheltglos.co.uk.

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