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Most certainly Mr C. M.
Tenneson will pull out all the stops when the present economic 'stop' turns
to 'go'. He it was who, as manager of Spalding branch, reconnoitred
Peterborough which as long ago as January 1964 appeared in a Head Office
circular as the potential home of a new branch. The site in Broadway is
obviously right, for the city must extend northwards. If at present the
immediate surroundings comprise gay fronts to shops which look uncertain
about the duration of their tenancies this will be cleared up in the
future: the cattle market, lying directly behind these shops, is also part
of a redevelopment plan and the enormous car park will likewise lose some
ground.
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The architects have made a
first-class job of what might have been an unpromising situation and, once
inside the office, one is hardly aware of its triangular shape. It has a
counter of teak partly fronted with gray altrazite stone, a material used
also for the flooring. Ash has been combined with teak throughout and is
complemented in the manager's room by a blue-patterned carpet and deep gold
curtains. The working part of the branch, the staff rooms and basement have
had nothing skimped and the entrance of anodised aluminium and
armour-plated glass is attractive and ingenious, but we have one criticism
which applies to some other new offices besides Peterborough. Who in
somebody's art and design department is under the impression that the
Martins staff consists of seven-footers?
This is about the height one needs to be to reach comfortably the
bolts on Peterborough's doors and the upper keyholes on some of the
stainless steel door frames we have seen recently: the lower keyholes are
accessible enough to people of any height and to mud from the pavements. We remember a rather
diminutive young lady at one branch who, asked how she gained entry if she
were the first to arrive, replied that she borrowed a bucket from the
workmen on the adjoining site and stood on it to reach the top keyhole.
When the kindly workmen finished their task did the District Office have to
send a tall girl to replace her? Great height may have its advantages but
surely those of small stature should not be made to feel conscious of it by
having to gallop round carrying an office chair to enable them to admit a
grinning customer or, worse still, the visiting inspectors. At Peterborough the staff would welcome a
whisker pole from some dinghy enthusiast but by the time this appears in
print they will probably have one.
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Images © Barclays Ref 0030-2264
 Of the Borough itself the
most important feature so far as the Bank is concerned is the intention to
double the present population of 65,000 in the next 15 years by London
overspill and the establishment of new industries.
At present Peterborough is
principally concerned with bricks, engineering, sugar beet and, to a lesser
extent, agriculture, for it was only with the coming of the London and
Birmingham and the Great Northern Railways in the middle of the last
century that the village grew to become a borough. It is saved from being
just another town by the imposing cathedral, originally a monastry in 655
A.D. and, despite a sad record of Danish vandalism, now standing in the
centre of a town which was once the primitive village of Medeshamstede. Mr
Tenneson and his wife and family have taken quickly to their new
surroundings.
Mr Malcolm Sly, who was
moving house on the day of our visit, will be remembered as the euphonium
player in our last winter's issue, and so far as we know his only regret
about his transfer is that here there is no town band. Having scolded
someone for their siting of bolts and keyholes, we can certainly
congratulate Midland District Office for their selection of the staff for
Peterborough. Those on the staffing side rarely receive bouquets but here,
as at many other branches, we quickly took a liking to the qualities and
the personalities of the staff, and we are very glad to say so. The
management of every new branch faces its own particular problems, and can
make better and faster progress with the enthusiastic and willing support
of the junior end. That support was very evident at Peterborough.
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