11-767 Tantobie

OUR SITE USES FRAMES TO ACHIEVE A NOSTALGIC LOOK – IF YOU CANNOT SEE A MENU TO THE LEFT OF THIS PAGE, PLEASE CLICK ON THE ‘HOME’ BUTTON ABOVE

Tantobie lies just two and half miles to the north west of Stanley in County Durham. The Bank of Liverpool and Martins opens its sub branch there in 1920, but it lasts only until the outbreak of the second world war, when some thirty-eight branches are mothballed and not re-opened after the War, due to huge numbers of Martins Bank’s staff being called up to active service. Between 1918, when the Bank of Liverpool and Martins is established, and 1932, when the new Martins Bank is only four years old, we witness the beginning of a massive expansion – that continues right up to the merger with Barclays – almost one hundred new branches and sub branches are opened throughout England and Wales.

In Service: 1920 until 1939

Extracts from Bank of Liverpool and Martins Annual Rpeort for 1920 © Barclays

Those opened in the North of the country are mainly tiny sub offices, mostly open for one day or less per week, tucked away in some of the remotest corners of Lancashire, Westmorland, Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland. 1932 sees the opening of Martins Bank’s lavish new Head Office Premises in Liverpool, and the rebuilding of the principal London Office of the Bank at 68 Lombard Street, in London takes place two years earlier. At this point thirty-four branches have already been closed down, and between 1932 and 1938 a further fourteen are removed from the Bank’s portfolio, probably to save money following the huge outlay on the new building work. Despite the upheaval of branch closures over a period of twenty years or so, Martins is determined to expand Southwards, and from a position of being able to boast 600 branches in the post war decade, this number grows to more than 750 by 1969, and the merger with Barclays. If all outlets had remained open since 1918 Martins would have operated more than 900 branches!