Today marks another special milestone in Birmingham's rich history as the founding place for some of the UK's most important banking institutions.
For it was on June 3, 1765, that Sampson Lloyd II, John Taylor and their two sons each invested £2,000 and set up Taylors & Lloyds in Birmingham.
Better know today as Lloyds Bank, Sampson Lloyd's father had fled Wales for Birmingham at the end of the 17th century to escape persecution for his Quaker beliefs and followed his father into the iron trade. By contrast, John Taylor was a Unitarian and a cabinet maker.
To mark the anniversary, Lloyds Bank have compiled ten little known facts about the institution and above is a gallery of historical images.
Single office
Taylors & Lloyds changed its name a couple of times during the 1800s and became Lloyds Bank in 1889. When it launched, Taylors & Lloyds operated out of a single building in Dale End where everything was written with quills and rolls of paper and staff wore powdered wigs. The first branch was launched in Oldbury in 1864.
Tracking down a theft
In December 1822, £4,002 in Taylors & Lloyds' banknotes were stolen from a Royal Mail coach on its way to Birmingham. A £1,000 reward was offered but many people couldn't read nor recognise the banknotes so the partners designed a symbol to add to the banknotes - a beehive - which represented thrift and industry.
Supporting the war effort
12,000 Lloyds Bank staff clubbed together to buy a Spitfire which was named 'The Black Horse' and went into action in March 1941. In July 1942, it collided mid-air with another Spitfire. The plane crashed near Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset but fortunately the pilot bailed out and survived.
Pure poetry
The poet TS Eliot started working for Lloyds Bank in 1917 as a clerk in the colonial and foreign department of the Lombard Street office in London. During his time, he wrote one of his most famous poems - The Waste Land - before leaving the bank in 1925.
Olympic flame
The manager of its Teddington branch followed the Olympic Torch in his Morris Minor on its way to London for the 1948 Olympics. On the seat next to him was a hurricane lamp holding the Olympic Flame, ready to relight the torch if it ever went out. During the run-up to the 2012 Games, 6,000 staff volunteered to help with the organisation.
Black horse
There were no house numbers back in 1677 but a distinctive sign helped customers to find businesses. The sign of the black horse originally hung above goldsmith Humphrey Stokes' shop in Lombard Street. Lloyds Bank inherited it in 1884 when it took over the banking firm Barnetts, Hoares & Co and has used it ever since.
Birth of banknotes
In the 18th century, banknotes were essentially a handwritten IOU - they were simply a promise from the bank to pay the bearer in either gold or silver coins. Over time, they became a substitute for the coins and, eventually, a form of money in their own right.
More war effort
During the Blitz in the Second World War, several vaults in Lloyds' branches were used as bomb shelters. Frederick Pritchard, the member of staff who had years earlier invented the night safe, designed a way to install a ceiling escape into the vaults so they could be used as air raid shelters.
Bankers' Battalion
During the First World War, more than half of Lloyds Bank's workforce - nearly 5,000 men - joined up to fight. Some of them joined the 26th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Formed in 1915 by the Lord Mayor and City of London, it was mainly made up of accountants and bank clerks and was known as the Bankers' Battalion.
Cash in hand
The first cash machines were very basic and customers often had to go into a bank to buy a voucher which was then used to withdraw money out of hours. In 1972, Lloyds Bank installed the world's first online, real-time ATM. The 'Cashpoint' machines let customers choose how much money they wanted and immediately debited their accounts.
