A collective mood of uncertainty, anger and bewilderment gripped Halifax staff yesterday in the West Yorkshire mill town from which the former building society takes its name.

HBOS employs more than 6,000 people in the Halifax area, many of them at the Commercial Street offices that serve as its mortgage and savings headquarters. The diamond-shaped building dominates the town’s skyline as it does the local economy, its upper floors visible from the street as two walls of glass coming to a single point, like the bow of a ship.

One employee said yesterday: “They’re telling us we’ve got to treat it like a storm, that the boat was well-built and it’s still strong, so all we need to do is cling on tight to the mast and ride it out. Well, we’re all clinging on for dear life and trying to get on with our jobs, but it’s been one hell of a storm and it’s not over yet.”

Staff had been told not to discuss the bank’s plight in public, but as they emerged at lunchtime those willing — anonymously — to brave a media inquisition spoke of feeling confused and frustrated by the whirlwind of recent days. There was also a burning sense of injustice, prompted by a widely held perception that the jobs and welfare of local workers had become the plaything of speculators. “It used to be the case that when you went to work for the Halifax you had a job for life. Those days are gone now.”

The collapse in the bank’s share price had been accompanied by assurances from management, both verbally and on the staff intranet, that HBOS was in no danger of sinking. And as prices plunged further yesterday, rumours of a merger were initially greeted with relief. But workers soon began to realise that their jobs could still be on the line. “My husband works for Lloyds, so I suppose at least one of us might come out of this mayhem with a job,” said one.

The Halifax Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society granted its first mortgage in 1853. It was formed after a group of craftsmen met in a room above the Old Cock Inn in the town in search of a solution to a pressing problem. The mills and factories that had sprung up during the Industrial Revolution were attracting rural workers, but there was nowhere for them to live. By the end of its first year the new society had 584 members. By 1882 its assets topped £1 million and by 1913 the Halifax was the biggest building society in the world.

A series of mergers followed, most notably with Leeds Permanent Building Society in 1995 and — after the 1997 conversion to plc status — with the Bank of Scotland in 2001.

Sipping a lunchtime coffee outside a local bistro — and admitting that she was smoking rather more heavily than usual — one woman spoke of her sense that something precious was at risk. “This is a good company and it’s got a fantastic culture. They’ve got values and they care about their staff.

“We know that we’re a good, strong bank and that we’re well run, but the speculators have targeted HBOS and in this crazy climate it seems there’s nothing we can do about it.”

She gestured in the direction of the Halifax building. “We’re all trying to stay positive to keep each other’s spirits up, but inside those offices are a thousand individual stories. Some are pregnant, some are getting married, some have just lost a close relative. And now we could all lose our jobs.

“Someone out there has made a fortune from all this. When the dust settles, I just hope they’re going to be held to account for what they’ve done to us.”

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