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 East Anglia is an important part of Martins history,
because the Bank’s chance to expand there is thwarted by the merger with
Barclays. This region really is the last outpost of Martins Bank, and there
is no reason to believe that without a merger, a rash of new Branches would
not have made its way steadily across Norfolk Suffolk Essex and
Cambridgeshire in the 1970s. Whilst we have not been able to secure a
photograph of the banking hall originally shared by various banks at UEA, we
do have this image from the Student Banking leaflet, produced by the Bank for
student customers.
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In Service at prefabricated banking hall: September 1964 until 12
December 1969
Images © Martins Bank
Archive Collections – Beryl Creer
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  The map shown
here on the right, which is printed in the same leaflet, shows where students
can find the “banking hall”. What a shame
for us, that the Banking Hall itself will be built - just out of shot - to
the rear of the photograph of Earlham Hall (above)! The sub-Branch at U E A opens in September
1964, whilst the Campus is still quite shiny and new – we know its address,
even the fledgling postcode given to it when Norwich became one of the first
cities to try them out. But a picture?
- a picture is hard to find. So
we have settled for a compromise – our friends at the U E A Archive have
kindly provided us with a picture of “University Village” as it is known in
1964. It is home to shops and banks,
but we can’t tell whereabouts Martins Bank should be. The University has also kindly provided us with the
following words, taken from a press cutting from the Eastern Evening News, 25
September 1964:
“…a prefabricated banking hall is being built, where all the
principal banks will offer facilities to students and staff alike. This
building is close to the new senior common room building, the former private
house, Earlham Lodge…”
At least from this fragment of news copy,
we can glean some confirmation that
the Branch actually exists! Inevitably, with “all the principal banks” on offer, Barclays already
has a present at UEA, and Martins’ Branch closes at the time of the merger of
the two Banks in December 1969.
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