It’s game over for Bank’s sports club, says Carney

FIRST, Mark Carney came for the Bank of England’s annual cricket match at the staff summer party, replacing it with rounders, football and tug of war.

Now, in his final year as governor, he has scrapped the entire sports facility – a sprawling 32-acre complex close to Richmond Park, boasting a gym, 16 tennis courts, world class football and rugby pitches and “relaxation facilities”.

In a drive towards greater inclusivity, the Bank will close its Roehampton club, owned since 1907, and lease the site on a commercial basis, cancelling all current memberships.

David Buik, a veteran businessman and financial commentator who was a member of the club for five years, said: “The facilities are simply incredible and I am sure that people of my generation will be extremely saddened… But you have to look at the balance sheet and the fact that younger people are playing their sport more locally… It is now an anachronism.”

One Bank employee, who did not want to be named, said that he was not surprised: “It is seen as a relic of the past. Very few people use it and I don’t see why we have it.”

Figures show that only 13 per cent of staff are members of the sports club, but many more have a pass to the company gym in Threadneedle Street.

In January, Joanna Place, the Bank’s chief operating officer, told MPS at the public accounts committee: “If we were starting with a blank canvas now, we would not think that we need to build a physical sports centre and it needs to be in Roehampton.”