Barclays' tall storey
THE BULBOUS tower on its new head office in the Moorish taste has been an embarrassment to Barclays, and not just because of its appearance. It had been standing empty ever since it was built. So I am pleased to report that one floor has found a tenant, even if this is only BZW, the group's investment bank, now exiled to Canary Wharf. My friends in BZW took the view that this might be ideal for other peo- ple, but that they themselves would need offices in London. (David Mellor, I remem- ber, took the same line in the distant days when he was Secretary of State for Free- bies.) To accommodate them all, their floor is being laid out on 'hotel' or 'hot-desIdng' lines: first come, first sat, the early bird catches the space. I foresee a stampede into work every morning. Tyres will screech in Gracechurch Street. Late-comers will over- flow into the upper storeys, and in no time the tower will be let, thus solving at least one of Barclays' problems.
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