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 Kent is historically represented by a scattering of
branches of “The Grasshopper” - the former Martin’s Private Bank which joins with
the Bank of Liverpool in 1918, but a further seventeen are opened in this
part of the South East by the Grasshopper’s successors between 1920 and 1967.
After three years in Tunbridge Wells at 15 Mount Pleasant Road, then a
further sixteen years at 28 Mount Pleasant Road, Martins Bank decides
to open newer, more modern premises further along at 64 Mount Pleasant
Road!
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In Service: 10 January
1966 to 14 January 1983
Image © Barclays Ref 0030-2990
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The correct use of place names is something that has always
and still does matter to the people of the village, town or city in
which those people live. Martins Bank
is guilty of naming one or two places shall we say – differently - to how the
locals might. Seahouses in
Northumberland is a case in point, being recorded in Martins’ Branches Book
and on Branch stationery as Sea Houses. Bexleyheath is shown as Bexley Heath on
customers’ cheques, but as Bexleyheath in the official records. In the twenty-first century these things
are, it would seem, taken very seriously by some, and in February 2021
a BBC television reality show that displayed “ROYAL TONBRIDGE WELLS” across the
screen received a social media storm of complaints! Tunbridge with U, NOT Tonbridge with
an O – that is a completely different town in Kent! Thankfully, at each of the three
locations the Bank uses in mount Pleasant Road, they always managed to spell
Tunbridge Wells correctly!
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Image ©
1966 Martins Bank Archive Collections -
Advertisement
Restored June 2021
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Images © Barclays Ref
0030-2990
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In January 1966, Martins Bank takes out an advertisement
in the local press (like this one, above left), to announce the move from
28 to 64 Mount Pleasant Road. This
particular thoroughfare has its fair share of banks, and by 1969 it hosts SEVEN branch banks – see the
information section further down this page.
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 Deceptively
small from the outside, the new office brings the Bank bang up to date with
the kind of light and airy offering we have seen elsewhere from this point
in the 1960s. This branch is kept
open by Barclays until 1983. From the
financial services of Martins, later Barclays Bank, to organic skin care
and natural remedies, customers are still being taken good care of at 64
Mount Pleasant Road!
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Image ©
Barclays Ref 0030-2990
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Image –
Martins Bank Archive Collections
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