HBOS Museum

Today we decided to have a lazy day, due to wet weather. We ventured out in the afternoon though. First we went to Snax Café, my favourite little diner where the menu can best be described as “… and chips”.

Once fed, we went to The Mound, to visit the HBOS Museum. To the uninitiated, HBOS is Halifax Bank of Scotland, a very large and very old bank which has roots in Scotland.

The museum is located on the lower floor, to one side, of the HBOS headquarters which is a landmark building on The Mound in Edinburgh. Its claim to fame is that is has £1 million in notes on display. This would be impressive, except that every note is stamped to be void :-(

The museum is very interesting, providing a full HBOS family tree showing, in which all past history was BOS (Bank of Scotland) acquiring smaller banks which ceased to exist, except Halifax which was a merger hence creating HBOS. On the day before our visit there, shareholders had approved the purchase of HBOS by Lloyds TSB. Nobody knows for sure how this will end up. Will HBOS cease to exist?

The history wasn’t just of banking, but also of all aspects of Scottish history especially regarding business and banking's involvement. There was lots of commentary about how banks are the pillar of society, and industry, and the economy, and are so conservative, and stable; really driving the message home. How times have changed! It’s very ironic to be seeing such a detailed exhibit in these troubled times.

They had a “safe” with a combination lock. By finding the answers to certain questions within the museum, the safe could be opened to retrieve the prize inside. We took the effort to do this, and came away with chocolate money for our troubles.

An interesting place, and entry is free. We recommend anyone in Edinburgh to visit it, while they still can.