Interesting to read the reviews, which are a bit of a curate's egg. Some think rotten, others excellent. I suspect that this might be down to everything being handled in branch, and I dare say that some branches are better than others. Another reason might be that you are getting genuinely personal service and for better or worse your account manager does know you and will form a judgement. Some customers and potential customers will not pass muster, and the bank does have a very low risk appetite. It's a bit like being asked by Captain Mainwaring to drop by to have a chat about that bounced cheque or whether you should really be spending quite so much at Berry Bros. Banking as it was 50 years ago, which will not suit everyone, and the Monzo generation probably prefer apps and anonymity, but it suits me.

You should see my firm's website! Like HB, we do no marketing or advertising and it is all done by personal recommendation. Part of that will be the "branch is king" ethos. The branch can decide what (if anything) to charge you and rates for loans, overdrafts, mortgages, deposit accounts - there is no central control over that. To become a customer they will want to meet you in person and see 6 months of financial records. There is a limit to the number of staff and customers at any branch and once the slots are full they will open another one. But they are definitely not looking only at the super-wealthy.

If we are going by Trustpilot reviews then I note that First Direct get only 2.4 out of 5 overall and 55% rate them 1 (Bad). I was with them for about 15 years and there was a time when they were pretty good, but I think they lost their way.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.firstdirect.com

See that's the sort of thing I mean when you casually say "see 6 months of financial records".

Maybe I have simple banking requirements but I'm racking my brains trying to think what I've done banking-wise that would warrant that?

Fully appreciate it might be as simple as I'm not their target market but it all comes across as if they're only interested in HNW or people with specific banking requirements.

If they said "Don't talk to us unless you have £500K in the bank" you'd know where you'd stand.

Again, it comes back to the branch. I'm with the Mayfair branch but the ones in Bolton or Doncaster might have entirely different criteria and I don't know what the branch criteria are, and nor does HB head office. If you have a decent story I think they will at least consider it, whereas with high street banks it is all about algorithms and central control and computer says no (or yes) and a call centre in India.