11-12-60 Bare sub to Morecambe

Calendar Girls?

A Branch at Bare is opened in 1923 by the Bank of Liverpool and Martins. Fashionable Bare is situated at the “posh end” of Morecambe, with its little row of shops, railway station, and of course, the Bare Women’s institute, and the Bare Boys’ Brigade (or are they simply legend?) The Bare newsagent and the Bare chemist would probably also be in the realms of our schoolboy smut, so we’ll stop right there…

Not quite “open all hours”…

1960 ish Bare exterior opening times close up BGA 30-91.jpg The standard opening hours at most of Martins’ main branches, and at some sub-Branches are Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm and on Saturdays 9.30am to 11am. Whilst it is not always possible to open at these times everywhere, the Bank always tries to provide the best possible opening hours in the smaller villages and suburban areas. This helps the Bank to make the best use of its buildings and staff. Bare opens on what are probably the best days of the week to suit all customers, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In Service: 1923 until Friday 7 April 2000

Image © Barclays Ref: 0030-0091

This image of the Branch is from the 1940s - by the time of the 1969 merger with Barclays, the branch opens until 1pm on each of its business days. The Bank of Liverpool and Martins opens a large number of Branches in 1923, and Bare is listed amongst them in the following extract from that year’s Annual Report and Accounts:

Extract from Bank of Liverpool and Martins Limited Annual Report and Accounts 1923 - Image © Barclays

Bare has joined the list of former Martins/Barclays properties to be standing empty, as our contemporary image from April 2016 shows. We do hope it will not be long before this lovely little building is open once more for business of some kind…