Lloyds to close Scotland’s banking Museum on The Mound

Located within the Scottish Headquarters of Lloyds, a landmark building which began life as - and remains - the Head Office of Bank of Scotland - Scotland’s very first bank, is visited by more than 50,000 people a year.

However, the museum, which is free and known for its exhibition of £1 million and Scotland’s oldest banknote, will open to the public for the last time on Friday, 29 December, 11 years after it was opened by author Ian Rankin.

Councillor Alex Staniforth, the Greens’ culture spokesman, said: “It would be a real shame to lose the museum, which is a valuable educational resource for local schools, as well as a visitor attraction, because Bank of Scotland wants to save a bit of money.

“The public purse was very generous to the banks following the crash of 2008 and to respond by stripping a cultural venue from the heart of the city is a very cold way of repaying that support.”

Several major museums have loaned objects to the museum, including the British Museum, the National Museums of Scotland, the National Archives and the Royal Mint.

It is also known for its successful schools service, which insiders say, has attracted great praise from teachers, schools and local authorities. It receives around 150 educational visit a-year, most of which are primary and secondary schools, bringing around 4,000 children.

Other educational visits include adult education groups, adults with special needs, student teachers and children from special schools or secure units.

The museum has consistently achieved a five-star visitor rating from Visit Scotland, and hundreds of positive reviews on TripAdvisor.

Joanne Orr, the chief executive of Museums Galleries Scotland, said: “We regret to hear of the closing of any museum and the closure of the Museum on The Mound will be a loss to Edinburgh’s tourist offering. “We hope that Lloyds Banking Group will continue their commitment in some capacity to the museum’s education and outreach programmes, which many school children and young people have benefited from.”

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesman said: “The group has made the difficult decision to close the Museum on the Mound by the end of the year.

“Over the last 11 years, the museum has been one of the ways that we have informed the public about the history of money and its role in society.

“The group remains committed to helping young people throughout Scotland understand financial management through our current flagship financial education and inclusion programmes.

“We will continue to work with our own archive service and other accredited institutions to ensure the artefacts are preserved.”

The spokesman said that there will be a “small reduction in roles” as a result of the closure, and staff had already been informed of the museum’s closure.

The spokesman noted: “The Edinburgh site will continue to be open to the public by an appointment service. Materials on loan to us will be returned to the lending institutions.”