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 London is seen by Martins Bank as key battleground in which
to fight for, and to win, the banking business of the great and the
good. Even though Head Office is in
Liverpool, having a major London office at 68 Lombard Street means Martins
has people on the ground in the capital, and branches start to spring up all
over London from the late 1930s onwards.
The Bank takes out
advertising to announce the opening of TWO new London branches within four
days of each other, in February 1938. We are sorry that we have not been able
to find a picture of the Bank’s branch at 79 Edgware Road, which survives
until 1969 when Barclays relocates the business to its Paddington Branch.
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In Service: 21 February 1938
until 12 December 1969
Image © Martins Bank Archive Collection
Advertisement remastered 2017
Extract from Martins Bank Limited Annual Report and
Accounts 1938 © Barclays
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Look out below for the
bank statement of a sixties icon, the new Mayor of Paddington receiving a
somewhat dubious salute, and firstly the retirement of Manager Mr Hughes,
whose career really has been “a job for life” after forty-two years with the
bank…
  on the
evening of November 27 Edgware Road branch was transformed for the entertainment
of over forty colleagues of Mr Ronald Hughes, who retired as Pro Manager
after 42 years' service, the last sixteen spent at that office, and all,
apart from his years with H.M. Forces, in the London District. Those present
included Mr S. W. P. Barter, Mr E. Parkinson (Manager) and his wife, Mr F. T.
Belcher and a large number of managers, present colleagues and retired staff
from the London District. In presenting Mr Hughes with a handsome record
player and a commemorative book containing the signatures of his many
friends, Mr Barter said that he was a man who all his life had been activated
by a sincere desire to be of service whenever he could and who had gained the
respect and friendship of countless people. Mrs
Hughes was presented with a personal gift by Mrs Southin and the rest of the
evening was devoted to the enjoyment and nostalgia such an occasion evokes.
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All along the
watchtower…
A major recording artist deserves a major overdraft,
and at this point in history – 1968 – being a few hundred pounds in the red
IS a major overdraft, but all part of the service provided by Martins Bank’s
79 Edgware Road Branch, to one Mr Jimi Hendrix…
Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections
Restored from original image 2019
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Decades before
Boris…
 The new Mayor of Paddington is Councillor Denis McNair,
Manager of our Edgware Road branch. Mr. McNair entered the Bank in 1922 at
Huddersfield and was moved to the London District in 1937. He served with the
Royal Navy  in Bombay during the last war and was secretary to
the Flag Officer. On his return to the Bank, he went to Moorgate where he
received his first signing authority and he was appointed Manager at Edgware
Road in 1947. Mr. McNair's service to the Borough of Paddington has
included a term as Chairman of the Finance Committee. He is Vice-President of
South Paddington Conservative
Association and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He was elected to
Paddington Borough Council in 1954 and has also been the Borough's representative
on the Metropolitan Water Board.
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