11-188 Bickley

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1923 really is a bumper year for the opening of new Branches and sub-Branches by the Bank of Liverpool and Martins. Five years after the two Banks were amalgamated, expansion is key to success, and with a batch of Branches in London and Kent, the combined business is keen to spread across the country to develop a truly National Bank.

One of twenty new offices opened in 1923, the sub-Branch at Bickley does not last very long under the newly created Martins Bank, which arrives on the scene on 3 January 1928. By September, Bickley is closed. Opened originally as a sub branch to Bromley, Bickley is run this way until 1926 when it becomes a sub-Branch to Chislehurst.

In Service: 7 December 1923 until September 1928

However, within months of the amalgamation of the Bank with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank, which creates Martins Bank Limited in 1928, Bickley is closed after less than five years in service. We must assume that for this and many of the smaller Branches to be closed down so soon, the new Martins Bank has had a “clear-out” of those offices that might be performing less than satisfactorily, are simply too expensive to maintain, or that need to be moved to follow the direction of business as towns and villages grow.

This last point is important, as towns and villages are growing and changing, adding new shops, banks and services at a time when cash is king and there is a physical need for these buildings. With full branches both at Bromley AND Chislehurst, the disruption in service to customers by the closure of Bickley is probably minimal. Bickley is amongst a large number of Martins early sub-Branches for which there are no external or internal photographs. If you can help with this or any of Martins’ 980+ Branch buildings, please do get in touch with us at the usual address – martinsbankarchive@btinternet.com