The green domes which have graced the top of the old American Express travel exchange at the top of North Street are being taken away while the building is gutted and transformed.
Traffic was briefly stopped at Churchill Square yesterday while a truck took away one of the domes for storage while work to build the new Metro Bank premises continues.
It is pictured here being driven along Richmond Terrace.
But Metro Bank reassured people they will be back, saying: “We’re storing them to keep it safe while we’re building and then it’s going back on. We love them too!”
Building work on the site is progressing well, and the bank is due to open early next year.
The bank says it wants to throw out every “stupid bank rule” and open seven days a week, have non-automated call centres, no product sales and “unparalleled convenience.”
The bank was given permission in December 2012 to make changes to the shopfront of the building.
In April 2012, permission to change the use from retail and offices to bank was refused, but a revised application which retained some of the first floor office was was approved in November that year.
Let us hope they do not vanish like the Palace Pier theatre
That was not a very Noble moment in the history of the city.