Spanish owners will restyle Abbey

ABBEY'S 741 branches could be restyled yet again if Banco Santander succeeds in its £8.16 billion takeover bid.

The Spanish bank believes that the branches are not readily recognisable from a distance.

Abbey's branch fronts were redesigned last September at a cost of £11 million when the word National was dropped from its name, along with the logo of a couple under a roof-shaped umbrella.

But the revamp was slammed at the annual meeting by shareholders, who claimed it was the 'most magnificent job of camouflage since the Second World War', and that the branches now looked more like 'dress shops'.

Chief executive Luqman Arnold has admitted to teething problems with the fonts, and the original four pale colours - pink, green, orange and blue - have been made bolder.

There are also plans to give branch interiors a £200 million makeover in the next five years with a variety of designs to suit regional tastes.

But a top banker at Santander, which plans to keep the Abbey brand, said: 'Abbey's new look needs some fine tuning. There are just too many colours.'