11-67-40 Chesham

London is swinging, “Radio one is won-der-ful!” the youth has disposable income, and all over England and Wales Martins Bank is busy planning and opening new branches. In Buckinghamshire it’s the turn of Chesham, which will open as a sub-Branch to Martins Bank’s office at 35 High Street High Wycombe. At the same time, a rash of similarly styled Branches is making a splash on Britain’s High Streets. At this point in the history of Martins Bank, mergers are still just out of sight around the corner, and the Bank designs its new branches with flair and optimism, and probably spends a little too much on them as a result. (See also ASHFORD, NEWPORT MAINDEE, BRISTOL NEWFOUNDLAND STREET and NEWPORT COMMERCIAL ROAD).

In Service: 1967 to 1972

Branch Images © Barclays Ref: 0030-0624

Like two trains, unaware of an impending collision, Martins Bank’s new Branches programme, and Barclays’ existing branch portfolio will inevitably work against each other in some parts of the Country, and sadly for Martins, many of its newest branches will become casualties of the rationalisation of merging the two banks. The Chesham Branch does survive until 1972, a little longer at least, than the dozens destined to end their days on 12 December 1969, three days before the merger of Barclays and Martins Branches. Chesham proudly bears the sculpture of the Grasshopper of the South, saluting the southern roots of the bank, and Martins’ Coat of Arms can also be seen on the branch door, although the Liver Bird will soon disappear altogether from Martins Bank’s branding…

Branch Images © Barclays Ref: 0030-0624

Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections

Advertisement Restored and re-mastered 2019

Percy the Kangaroo and his “owner” are two characters of whom we will see quite a bit in 1967, in one of several generic images used within the Bank’s advertising for newly opened or refurbished branches. “Martins Bank have opened a new branch a short hop from you”…