Banks offer free cafes and workspaces in a bid to attract customers to their branches. And you don’t even have to be a customer to use them.

More than 6,000 branches of banks and building societies have closed since January 2015, reports consumer group Which? A growing number of those who remain are reinventing their spaces to stay relevant and ensure their survival.

So could fresh coffee save struggling department stores or just delay the inevitable? Toby Walne visits three to find out.

“Where is the bank”? Toby Walne visited three workspaces offered by Halifax, Santander and Virgin Money, where customers can buy coffee and use their laptops.

Halifax, New Oxford Street, London

This £31.5 million flagship branch has 13,500 sq ft of prime real estate spread over three floors in central London.

Just before noon on a Thursday, outside the agency, the streets are filled with customers and tourists.

But step inside and it’s an oasis of calm — just three employees present and a half-dozen customers seemingly lost in the warehouse-sized building.

To my left are six ATMs – “take away” and “put in” – as well as a few old blue-painted GPO telephone boxes that customers are invited to enter to call Halifax. There are seven sofas and a handful of comfy chairs around the edges, but I feel awkward in all that space.

A giant television screen advises me to “go up to the café to recharge my batteries”.

On the second floor is a “Home Hub” where half a dozen people enjoy a team building lunch. The area also includes three meeting rooms plus a “video room,” an empty “kids savings area” and a “home buying” area.

The Kitchen café bar is open. A flat white costs £3.14, but barista Kaja convinces me to part with £4.50 – to include a slice of caramel shortcake.

The cafe is a Change Please outlet where profits “provide homeless people with the tools and training to become baristas”.

It’s the only thing that makes sense in this bank.

There are two long benches for eight people and two smaller tables that seat four people each. I have a bench to myself and I sign up for free Wi-Fi.

I try to follow the advice of one of the bank’s Orwellian posters: “Make yourself at home” and type on my laptop.

This flagship property was acquired in May 2018 for £31.5 million, according to The Move Market website. Small branches cost around £590,000 a year, according to the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority.

So I dread to think how much this one costs. Halifax will close 119 branches this year and next year.

Santander Work Café, London

Near Regent’s Park is the Santander Work Café. Inside, there are two employees in the lobby. I ask one of them: “Where is the bank?” She replies: “We can ask someone to help you if you need it – but we are mainly digital. »

The open space has sofas, plush armchairs and seven desk spaces plus two more large tables that each seat eight people where I sit. I have 23 people who are “working” rather than banking.

There are half a dozen private rooms including a few partitioned meeting spaces. A jukebox screen on the wall is thankfully disabled. There are a few ATMs.

At 1 p.m., the main attraction seems to be the Work Café, run by The Colombian Coffee Company. If I pay with a Santander debit or credit card I get a 30% discount.

“Library”: the atmosphere at the Santander Work Café was good to continue working

The flat white costs £4.20 but offers a better dose of caffeine than the Halifax. Once again the staff use their sales pitches to convince me to part with £8 to enjoy the £6 coffee, sandwich and snack.

I opt for the coconut tofu slaw sandwich after barista Andrea tells me I’ll love it.

The library atmosphere is conducive to working, the free Wi-Fi is fast and electrical outlets are scattered everywhere.

Slogans written on the walls, such as “No one can succeed by being talented alone” indicate that this is a workspace.

This ‘bank’ is part of a £27m redevelopment of the 2001 Santander headquarters to which it is attached and was opened just a year ago to join Work Cafés in Leeds and Milton Keynes.

Staff are on hand if you need assistance. After my first and last tofu sandwich, I leave at 2 p.m.

Virgin Money, Birmingham

The exterior of this glass-walled bank in the center of the city gives no indication that it is anything other than a typical modern bank.

The doors open and in front is a counter manned by branch manager Kelly. However, rather than financial aid, I was offered coffee.

She explains that I am not in front of a bank teller but in a “yes bar” where, after offering me a drink, we can discuss my needs. The place is empty when I visit, aside from three employees.

There are a few “silver rooms” off to the side for privacy, but Kelly says she usually stays “on stage” in the plush seating area.

She says a key part of her job is teaching customers how to bank online. After explaining that I’m not here to do banking – nor a Virgin customer – I expect to be kicked out.

But Kelly says I can work in the agency for free, which includes using the internet and electricity. If we were a group of four we could book a meeting room for a suggested donation of £25 or £50.

Coffee from a machine is free but the quality compared to other bank baristas is poor.

It’s one of Virgin’s eight “coffee lounges” – but it still feels more like a bank than a workplace to me.

I’m sitting in a booth marked “Get Bolder, Not Older.” Maybe these barista bars are finally softening me up – because I even like that company slogan. Unlike other agencies, this point of sale does not cost more to manage than if it were a traditional bank.

Not everyone is convinced.

Passerby Pat Parkin, 75, told me: “If I want a coffee, I go to a coffee bar. All these banks are playing the same game: pushing us towards online banking. Coffee bars are a soft sell way of trying to achieve this.