The arrival of a new governor at ThreadneedleStreet provides a perfect opportunity for such a debate to happen, without anyone getting too defensive (not that anyone would dare call Sir Mervyn King defensive).
These then morphed into "banks for bankers" - clearing houses which would mop up liquidity among the middle and upper classes and spread it through the private banking system (in the lobby of the Bank of England there is a nice painting of the English bourgeoisie queuing up at ThreadneedleStreet on Dividend Day by George Elgar Hicks).
Threadneedle Property Investments, owners of the Foundry shopping centre in Scunthorpe's High Street, was asking for the right to appeal against a High Court judgement that ruled the plan could go ahead.