11-122 Bradford Clayton

Our friends at Barclays Group Archives have traced mention of Bradford Clayton Branch in the prospectus - issued 1926 - of the Halifax Equitable Bank, which merged with the Bank of Liverpool and Martins in 1919. Clayton first appears in the Annual Report and Accounts of the Bank of Liverpool and Martins in 1926 where it is listed as a sub branch to Bradford’s Sunbridge Road Branch.

The above lease is taken out on 1 Sep 1925, between the owner, Mr John F Elliott and the Halifax Equitable Benefit Building Society. The address is given as “Central Place, Clayton Lane, Clayton in the Parish of Bradford in the County of York”.

In Service: November 1926 until 7 March 1932

Image © Barclays Ref: 0024-0208

Todmorden Herald 14 January 1927

Image © Northcliffe Media Limited Image created

courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD

and reproduced with kind permission

of The British Newspaper Archive

Equitable Bank Signage framed.jpg However, such intricacy still fails to provide the street number, and in trying to find the building today, this small lack of detail gives us quite a headache! It was opened about one year into the lease, in 1926, and for the term of the first lease, the bank would have to pay £19 10s 0d per annum for the privilege of operating a bank from these premises. In today’s money that is around £1,127.45 per annum. The branch opens for a couple of hours on three weekday mornings. Clayton Branch was closed by Martins in 1932, a year in which many tiny sub branches face the axe frollowing the rebuilding of 68 lombard street london, and the completeion of Martins’ palatial Head Office in Liverpool. Clayton is first listed as a Branch of the Bank of Liverpool and Martins in 1926 as follows:

Image - Martins Bank Archive Collections © Barclays 1926

As this little branch is closed well before the advent of Martins Bank Magazine, it is unlikely that we shall be able to find the names of anyone who worked there.