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Some of Martins Bank’s branches have reached a great age
because they are still open today, but just a few have also managed to clock
up well over a hundred years before being closed down.
One such Branch is Newbiggin by the Sea, which including a
move a short distance across the same road in 1966 had been open for a total
of one hundred and twenty-one years when Barclays shut the doors forever in
1999.
As the name
might suggest Newbiggin-by-the-Sea sub-Branch is situated on the beautiful
coastline of Northumberland. It comes as a refreshing break to the monotony
of towns and villages close by that all seem to start with either the letter
A or B.
In fact the
proliferation of place names at the beginning of the alphabet is described in
Martins Bank Magazine’s 1965 feature, “As and Bs in Northumberland”, in which
they endeavour to visit as many A or B letter branches as they can in one
trip!
This
advertisement (right) is taken out in the local press in 1966 to ask
customers to cross the street to newly converted premises.
Throughout
the 1960s and right up to the time of the merger with Barclays, Martins Bank converts,
and rebuilds a large number of its branches, moving many to new locations.
Much of the Bank’s older stock of buildings is simply too small to cope with
what was then a major expansion in banking. In the twenty-first century we
have a reversal of fortunes, as the infrastructure required to operate a bank
no longer includes people and buildings… |
In Service: 16 December 1878 until moved 23 July 1966 to 86 Front Street
Image
© Martins Bank Archive Collections - Advertisement Remastered 2018 |
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