Bradford and Bingley has bought Lloyds TSB's Black Horse estate agency group for £56 million, more than doubling the building society's presence on the high street.

The building society will take on all of Lloyds 370 estate agency branches around the UK including the Black Horse chain itself, TSB Property Services and Slater Hogg and Howison. The businesses employ around 3,400 staff. Bradford & Bingley, which has 230 high street branches, does not have an estate agency business of its own. The deal will allow Bradford and Bingley to tap into the potential mortgage market among housebuyers who use Black Horse agencies to find a home.

Christopher Rodrigues, Bradford & Bingley's group chief executive said: "At a stroke we have added 370 outlets and created a national distribution network.

"Our expanded network will allow us to reach more of our members face-to-face and to offer them the full range of services needed to buy, pay for, insure and sell their home."

David Woodcock, managing director at Black Horse Agencies, said he was delighted to be joining Bradford & Bingley. "Christopher Rodrigues and his colleagues are clearly committed to building on the excellent reputation of our business"

Bradford and Bingley did not enter the estate agency market during the property boom of the 1980s, which resulted in a huge shake-up in the industry and left many companies that moved into the housing market with burned fingers.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.