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Martins Bank has Branches in nine of Devon’s towns
and cities, following the opening of the first Branch at Torquay in 1938.
Barnstaple is the fifth of these Branches to be opened, in these highly
attractive premises in the High Street in 1953. Barclays retains Barnstaple
Branch at the time of the Merger with Martins Bank in 1969, but the building
is closed in 1976 after around twenty three years in service. |
In Service: 1953 until 16 January 1976
Branch
Images © Barclays Ref 1732-0162
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Barnstaple has been open for business for a couple of years
by the time Martins Bank Magazine catches up with it for its Summer 1956
edition. At the time of their visit the Manager is Mr C Clark, who later will
journey back to the Lake District to take charge of Kendal Branch… |
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On
April 27th we travelled to Barnstaple where we were met by Mr. C. Clark. Our first engagement was to call upon the
Mayor, Councillor A. W. Clarke, and pay our respects. We spent a most
entertaining hour in the Mayor's Parlour examining the many objects of beauty
and interest, including the Town plate which contains some magnificent
pieces. But most of all were we
entertained by the example of working democracy whereby an aggrieved citizen
knocked at the door and, in the temporary absence of the beadle was attended
to by the Mayor himself, who listened to his complaint and, in this particular
instance, stood up to him and justified the action the Council had taken and
sent him away satisfied that he had been fairly treated. This
is the first English town, a Tory town, too, in which we have seen anything
like this happen. Complete accessibility to the first citizen of the town,
with the right to state your case and say what you think: and even when the
beadle is on duty, direct and immediate access is not denied if the business
is genuine. That is a sample of working democracy which is a pattern for any
town. Four of the six members of our
Barnstaple staff were already known to us. We introduced Betty Ashwell to our
readers some time ago, by virtue of her outstanding exploits in the world of
swimming. Ruth Evans, we met at the last South-Western staff dinner. She
comes from a large family—nine
brothers and sisters, and runs true to type for children of large families:
the corners get rubbed off and the resultant character is tolerant,
agreeable, full of fun, and with plenty of team spirit. |
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Branch Images © Barclays Ref 1732-0162 |
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Mr. Clark himself is an old friend of
ours, still with a deep love of the North where all his previous service was
given in Grange, Appleby, Lancaster, Dalton and Wigton, but very happily
settled in his new town where he has made plenty of friends. He will,
however, never be permitted to refer to Barnstaple as Barum: that is reserved
for the natives. He has made an outstanding success of his new branch and the
Bank is fairly established in the life of the town. Mr. K. E. Tomlinson is second-in-command
and he, too, is no stranger to us. He hails from the Manchester District, his
service including Blackpool, Preston and Manchester District Office
Inspection Department. Mr. P. Howard arrived at
Barnstaple by way of Plymouth, Cockermouth and Keswick and the tall,
studious-looking figure of Mr. P. F. Sanders, the junior male member of the
staff, gives the branch an appropriate air of scholarship. On relief, due to
the absence on holiday of Mr. Tomlinson, was Mr. R. A. Gerard, of our
Plymouth staff. |
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We had the pleasure of entertaining Mr. and Mrs. Clark at
Bideford in the evening, an extremely happy evening after a very pleasant and
interesting visit—our
first—to this outpost of the Bank. In 1967 Barnstaple undergoes a refurbishment,
part of a major series of alterations, knock-down and rebuilds across the
country by Martins Bank, in the spirit of “mending the roof whilst the sun is
shining”. This very short piece from Martins Bank Magazine’s Summer 1967
edition is all that remains to document the re-opening of Barnstaple
following completion of the works… Mr G E Clarkson, with Mr D E Arkle
(Manager) Mr J H Bryan (Pro Premises Manager) and officials from the architects
and builders at the re-opening of our Barnstaple Branch. |
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