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 East
Anglia is an important part of Martins history, because the Bank’s chance to
expand there is thwarted by the merger with Barclays. This region really is the last outpost of Martins Bank, and there
is no reason to believe that without a merger, a rash of new Branches would
not have made its way steadily across Norfolk Suffolk Essex and
Cambridgeshire in the 1970s. Whilst we have not been able to secure a photograph
of the banking hall originally shared by various banks at UEA, we do have
this image from the Student Banking leaflet, produced for student customers by
Martins Bank.
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In Service: September 1964 until 12 December 1969
Images © Martins Bank
Archive Collections
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 This map, which is printed in the same leaflet, shows
where students can find the “banking hall”. What
a shame for us, that the Banking Hall itself will be built - just out of shot
- to the rear of the photograph of Earlham Hall (above)! The sub-Branch at U E A opens in September
1964, whilst the Campus is still quite shiny and new – we know its address,
even the fledgling postcode given to it when Norwich became one of the first
cities to try them out. But a picture?
- a picture is hard to find. So
we have settled for a compromise – our friends at the U E A Archive have
kindly provided us with a picture of “University Village” as it is known in
1964. It is home to shops and banks,
but we can’t tell whereabouts Martins Bank should be. The
University has also kindly provided us with the following words, taken from a
press cutting from the Eastern Evening News, 25 September 1964:
“…a prefabricated banking hall is being built, where all the principal
banks will offer facilities to students and staff alike. This building is
close to the new senior common room building, the former private house,
Earlham Lodge…”
At least from this fragment of news copy, we can glean some confirmation that the Branch
actually exists! Inevitably, with “all the principal
banks” on offer, Barclays already has a present at UEA, and Martins’ Branch
closes at the time of the merger of the two Banks in December 1969.
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