11-60-40 Corbridge

The North Eastern Banking Company enjoys a period of solid financial growth in the mid to late 1890s. This provides stability enough for them to be able to open a number of new branches each year. In 1895 new premises are secured for West Hartlepool and Gateshead offices, and new branches are opened at Stanley and Sedgefield, with a further two sub branches opening at Felling and Corbridge. At Corbridge a space (what we would probably term a “shop unit” today) is secured at Town Hall Buildings, and banking business continues there until May 1969. Martins’ list of branches for 1968 shows that right to the end Corbridge sub branch trades for a full banking week – 10am to 3pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 11.30am on Saturday. It is common for a large number of Martins’ sub-Branches to open long hours, something that is nowadays a rarity.

In Service: 1 February 1895 until 1969

Branch Images © Barclays Ref: 0030/0712

The danger – and what some perceive as excitement – of bank raids were becoming a problem by the 1950s, and with the rapid expansion of the banking networks across the United Kingdom, such events were sadly part of everyday life. Sometimes there was the unimaginable fear of facing someone pointing a gun at you as you sat behind what was then a very open divider between staff and customers. On other occasions branches were broken into overnight. In Martins’ history, particularly in the North Eastern district, explosives laid carefully to blast open safes early in the morning was another “weapon of choice” of those willing to steal what did not belong to them. In September 1963, thieves at Jarrow branch managed only to blow a small hole in the wall of the branch and flee, leaving their tools behind.

Earlier, in February 1957, a slightly more successful use of explosives saw Corbridge sub-Branch itself fall victim to this dangerous and frightening criminal activity. We were delighted when John Malden got in touch with the Archive – and turned detective – providing us with the story, as printed in the South Shields Gazette on 26 March 1957, which is shown here courtesy of our friends at the British Newspaper Archive.