11-79-90 Hartlepool York Road

Martins Bank has two branches in Hartlepool, one at WEST Hartlepool, the other at York Road. From the end of the 1950s until around 1964/5 some of the Bank’s oldest branches are redeveloped. Some are given an internal refit, others are pulled down and rebuilt. In 1959 it is the turn of Hartlepool’s York Road branch to undergo a transformation. Nowadays we might well yearn for the older look, but then, the shock of the new is all the rage – a sort of impatience for the arrival of the future…

In Service: 1895 until 20 October 1978

Image © Barclays Ref 0030-1203

The change at York Road is going to be so radical, that Martins takes a large number of photographs of the old building from just about every angle. It has been difficult for us to choose those that best represent the transformation, but you will certainly see the “shock of the new”:

Image © Barclays Ref 0030-1203

Whilst the customers stop and stare at the outside, the staff are probably very grateful to at last be working in the modern office surroundings created on the inside, whose “before and After” story is also told here in pictures:

Images © Barclays Ref 0030-1203



*Mr F M Pigg* *Joined the Bank Here* *1922*	*Mr M W Jaques* *Joined the Bank Here* *1934 to 1936*	*Mr E T Punshon* *Manager* *1934 to 1947*	*Mr H Weaver* *Joined the Bank Here* *1936 to 1937*	*Mr J F Knowles* *Joined the Bank Here* *1941 to 1943*	*Mr R W Rand* *On the Staff* *1950 to 1951*



*Mr I S Grant* *On the Staff* *1952 to 1953*	*Mr K Young* *Manager* *1952 to 1960*