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Corner Spectacular!
Those Craven Bankers certainly know how to make a show of things,
distinctive main branches and ‘choclate box’ sub branches scattered throughout
the area, and a tradition that has customers and staff referring to the
district as Craven, long after the merger with Barclays. Padiham is a
wonderfully appointed branch, sitting proudly, grandly and somewhat precariously on a corner, at the top of a
very steep hill. We first find written mention of the branch around 1880 when
the decision has been made to incorporate the Craven Bank as the Craven Bank Limited,
and at this time Padiham is one of two sub branches to Burnley, the other
being at Nelson. By the time that the
Craven Bank amalgamates with the Bank of Liverpool in 1906 however, Padiham
is listed as one of fourteen main branches in Craven country. That is how things remain up to the merger
with Barclays. For a brief time, 1926 to 1939, Padiham has its own
sub-Branch, opened in the nearby village of Read by the Bank of Liverpool and
Martins. Read becomes a casualty of
war in that whilst intended to close for the duration of World War II, it is not
re-opened afterwards.
Into the twenty-first century, Padiham itself remained open, offering
Barclays’ services to the local people from its still ostentatious vantage
point in Burnley Road. Built to
last? Well, sadly with more than one
hundred and thirty years in the bag already, time was finally been called at
Padiham, with permanent closure taking place on 23 June 2017. As banking
shrinks to the internet and a small number of “pay-in” and “get-out”
machines, the days of even larger branches are almost over. Special thanks to David Baxter for the image below
left, from an early coloured postcard showing how Padiham Branch looked under
the Craven Bank just before becoming part of the Bank of Liverpool in 1906. |
In Service: Before 1880 until Friday 23 June 2017
Branch Images © Barclays
Ref 0030-2218 and 0033-0400
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Branch Images © Barclays
Ref 0030-2218 and 0033-0400 |
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