A merchant bank has announced that it is moving 600 staff into Wimbledon town centre, making it the biggest private employer in the borough from August.

Close Brothers are re-locating the staff from their office in Tolworth Tower to Wimbledon Bridge House in Hartfield Road.

The FTSE250 company provides lending, deposit taking, wealth management services and securities trading and is one of the UK's largest lenders to small and medium sized businesses.

A Close Brothers spokesman said this morning: "We are very much looking forward to our move to Wimbledon and becoming active members of the local business community.

"We chose Wimbledon for our new office as it offers our team a great environment to work in, and being so close to the train station, a very convenient location to get to."

Staff from the group's banking team are expected to move into the 60,000 sq ft of office space in August.

The announcement has been welcomed by local businesses, politicians and business support groups.

Helen Clark Bell, manager of Wimbledon's business improvement district Love Wimbledon said: "Love Wimbledon are delighted to be working with Close Brothers ahead of their office relocation to Wimbledon this summer.

"These offices are currently being refurbished ahead of their move and Love Wimbledon are developing close links to welcome their employees and help with the business’ integration into the Wimbledon community.

Michael Byrne, manager of Suburban Bar & Lounge in Hartfield Road, said: "I think any business that can bring staff to the area is a good thing."

He said the bar already has good deals but he would consider offering the bank staff a special deal when they arrive.

Current tenants in the building include Orbis Investment Advisory and Unibet, with WH Smith, Waterstone's, Next and Cargo HomeShop on the ground floor.

The building is owned by Hermes Real Estate Investment Management Limited.

Councillor Stephen Alambritis, leader of Merton Council said: "I welcome the new business into the London Borough of Merton.

"It shows that there's demand for office space so people not only live in Wimbledon but also work in Wimbledon."