‘Everyone is proud of it’: dismay in Halifax at Lloyds’ threat to historic brand

David Glover, of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, at Lister Lane cemetery, where founders of the Halifax building society are buried. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

On a moody afternoon, near the sandstone terraces of Halifax’s Gibbet street, David Glover, a local historian, is opening the gates to Lister Lane cemetery.

Usually closed to the public, the burial ground is being opened today as an exception. Because here, among towering spires and the tombs of wealthy industrialists, lie the founders of one of West Yorkshire’s most famous exports: Halifax building society.