Mr Verrnon Hill III

Is one of the owners if the new UK bank, Metro.

An impromptu visit to Waitrose resulted in most've of my lunch being taken up by chatting to the staff in this new store.

Typical American razzmatazz filled every bit of pavement, dancing stilt walker, face painting, lonely DJ, manicures and ballons. Mascot Metro did the endless rounds of waving and acosting passerbys while management faffed and dominated the entrance.

Despite all that I quite liked it, not just because of the free popcorn, pens, bag and book I came away with but because I got to meet the man himself. With a slick hand movement his pen was out and my name was written forever more on his book of banking wisdom.