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Southern Pioneers…
 
 Amongst the many items donated
to our archive in the W Noël Townson bequest is an unassuming A4 Pamphlet
entitled “Martins Bank Branches in Sussex”.
It is written in 1984 by Mr A F Hill, who at that time is Manager of
Barclays in Brighton. Prompted by
the closure of the former Martins Branch at 26 North Street Brighton, Mr
Hill contacts his friends and colleagues for information that will enable
him to tell the story of Martins Bank’s involvement with the south coast of
England. The result is a treasure
trove of facts and figures for future archivists, and a glimpse at life in
Martins including the contribution each of the Sussex branches make to the profitability
of the bank. Wherever possible, we
will add Mr Hill’s comments to each of the pages for the relevant Sussex
branches. Below we reproduce the
introduction to the pamphlet, and links to the branches he mentions…
{“With the recent closure
of 26 North Street, Brighton Branch, the final link with Martins Bank in
the county of Sussex has been severed.
As a Martinsman of some 18 years standing, I felt some record should
be made, before memories fade, and the remaining records are "lost to
view". Some views
expressed within the introduction may be thought to be contentious, but
were given to {me} in good faith and it is felt should be expressed.
May I thank all retired and current staff for
their forbearance and help in recalling dates, individuals and items of
interest to enable this record of events to be completed.
INTRODUCTION
Martins Bank moved into
the Sussex Coast in the late 1930's when five Branches were opened in the
space of three years, with any further expansion being curtailed by the
start of the Second World War.
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1961 – Bexhill-on-Sea
branch re-opens,
defining Martins Bank’s
new look for the 1960s
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The move to the South
Coast was part of a vigorous expansion programme undertaken by the General
Manager at that time John M Furniss,
supported from London by Mr G R Tarn, Superintendent of Branches. In
fact over a period of nine years in the 1930's some 70 Branches were opened
to widen the Bank's representation throughout England. The 1939 - 1945 War
did cause some contraction of representation in the County with the closure
of Bexhill-On-Sea for the duration of the War, but that office re-opened again in 1946.
Other offices were opened in the 1960s, Hastings 1961, Trust Company at
Worthing 1967, Chichester 1968 and a sub-Branch at Goring-By-Sea 1968, with
other sites being sought after in Brighton (a second office) Crawley,
Hailsham, Horsham and Lewes. Business in the Post-War period and beyond
continued to flourish and as at merger day the 13th December 1969 the
Sussex Branches had grown to the following size;
Current and Deposit accounts 9,230
Money Lodged £3,650,000
Money Lent £1,920,000
Served by
staff of 76
Confidentiality prohibits
giving the individual Branch statistics, and the figures mentioned above
have been very difficult to establish especially Money Lodged and Lent for
the Branches that closed on merger day and in 1970.
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No local record remains and from what I can establish no Group
record remains either. I have therefore
had to rely on the memories of Managers and to delving into Branches
records to obtain my figures. The take-over was a cultural shock for all,
staff had to re-train on routine work and cope with the mass of merger
circulars and other regulations. Our
merger bonus was certainly hard earned! For customers the benefits of the
merger were not at first obvious, apart from a locally based Advances
Control at Brighton L.H.O., with the benefit of local knowledge and
conditions. Other customer and
branch support services varied, but on the whole were of the same standard.
The integration of the Martins Branches into the Barclays network started
straight away, for in towns in Sussex our representation was duplicated,
with former competitors now trading in the same High Street. The rationalisation of the Branch system
was inevitable and by the end of 1972 all Martins Bank Branches bar 26
North Street, Brighton had been closed. Generally upon the closure of a
Martins Branch business tended to follow the Manager, especially if he
moved locally. In Worthing, Hastings
and Hove the majority of the business both private and commercial loyally
followed the Martins man to his new Branch. With other
closures, business was absorbed locally, with few problems considering that
a large section of the Martins' business on the Sussex Coast was private
accounts of the socio economic type A and B who had grown used to a very
high standard of service and customer care.
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Hove Branch pictured in 1969
Image © Barclays
Ref 0030-1366
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Eastbourne Branch 1959
Image © Martins
Bank Archive Collections
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With the takeover of Martins Bank an era of service ended in
provincial Branch banking and with the pressures on cost control and
staffing levels over the past 15 years one wonders how long Martins could
have continued that standard of service unrivalled by our competitors in
which all staff prided themselves, trying to live up to the Martins Bank
slogan of that time that we
“went to extremes to be helpful”… I
have tried to outline the development of each of the following Offices, which
I hope gives a true record of each Branch:”}
You can click on the links above to visit these Sussex
branches.
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