Mrs Grice

Mrs Grice was the recently-appointed mortgage manager of a bank where Alec Gilroy applied for a business loan of £60,000 in 1991. Alec was setting up The Al-Phi-Bet Club with Phil Jennings and had to borrow to come up with his half.

Alec immediately got off on the wrong foot with Mrs Grice by assuming that she was a secretary and handing her his coat to hang up, though Mrs Grice made a faux pas herself by addressing Alec as "Mr Giljoy". Alec was thrown when Mrs Grice corrected his assumption about her profession and told him that her predecessor, Mr Lawrence, had been transferred two weeks ago. Alec made a valiant attempt to convince Mrs Grice that he was a sound investment, citing Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones as acts he nearly had on his books at one point. However, his age and support for borrowing his way out of trouble - despite the current recession - were a cause for concern. Mrs Grice only stretched to £30,000 as the premises he'd earmarked for the club was semi-derelict and he didn't know the financial situation of partner, Phil Jennings.

The civil conversation was a marked contrast to Alec's colourful report of the meeting to Bet, in which he labelled Mrs Grice a snotty young yuppie who was power mad.