Bradford & Bingley is kicking out the old-fashioned image of bowler-hatted men used in its logo and advertising.

Beverley Healy, customer service adviser, with the Bradford & Bingley new look. Picture by Paul Baker

The UK's second-largest building society is approaching the Millennium with a new look.

The Mr Bradford & Mr Bingley logo is being retired and replaced with a matrix of 20 multi-coloured bowler hats. The society's corporate colour has also been changed to deep lilac and a new typeface adopted for the title, Bradford & Bingley.

Research showed that customers - especially young women making over 50 per cent of the society's customers - regarded the existing brand as old-fashioned and sexist.

Meanwhile, the society is rallying support for its commitment to remain a mutual business.

Staff at the society's 220 branches, including York, Harrogate, Knaresborough, Selby and Goole, as well as 400 local agencies, are campaigning to maximise the turn-out on resolutions at this year's Annual General Meeting on April 26 to ensure calls for the society to convert into a bank are rejected.

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