11-347 Easington Lane

1926 sees another bumper crop of new Branches and sub-Branches being opened by the Bank of Liverpool and Martins. – It might seem odd that the Bank has opened a sub-Branch at Easington Lane in, as it is less than five miles away from another sub-Branch at Easington Colliery, opened in 1912 by the North Eastern Banking Company, but, decades away from computers and cash machines, having branches of your bank conveniently scattered every few miles is the equivalent of today’s set up where cash is available in several different ways from a variety of banks, shops and Post Offices. Our 1920s bankers would have to stretch their imagination to breaking point to envisage the “contactless” payment systems of the Twenty-first Century! Easington Lane has a life of only fifteen years, being originally mothballed for the duration of the Second World War but not re-opened.

In Service: 8 March 1926 until 1941

1927 BOLAM ARA Branches have been opened at Ainsdale, Meols (Cheshire), Woolton Road, Liverpool, and York; and Sub-Branches at Chapel Allerton (Leeds), Colne Auction Mart, Dalston (Carlisle), Easington Lane (Hetton-le-Hole), Fulwell (Sunderland), Skipton Auction Mart and Read (Padiham). Premises for new Branches have been acquired at Beverley Road, Hull, Colwyn Bay, Hoole (Cheshire), Maidstone, Oakwood (Leeds) and Poulton Road, Liscard. The new premises at Leeds will shortly be ready for opening.

Extracts from Annual Report & Accounts of the Bank of Liverpool and Martins 1926 © Barclays

We have very few details about this particular sub-Branch, and no images to show you either of the building or any staff that might have worked there. If you can help with any information, or images of this or indeed any of the 980+ buildings used as Branches of Martins Bank down the years, please do get in touch with us at the usual address – martinsbankarchive@btinternet.com.