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 The interior
design and layout of Martins’ new Branch at King’s Heath would not look out
of place in the twenty-first century.
In fact, the calendar clock seen on the wall of the Branch in the
photograph below, is of the same design and manufacture as that used in the
majority of Barclays Branches – some of them up to the end of national branch
banking in 2024/5!
King’s heath opens about a year before news of a
merger with Barclays will break, and Martins is still going full steam ahead
with its policy of expansion, opening many new branches.
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In Service: March 1967 until 12 June 1970
Image © Barclays Ref 0030-0226
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King’s Heath will be the last of the Bank’s
Birmingham area branches to be opened before Barclays takes over. Although King’s Heath Branch is originally
scheduled to be kept on after the merger, it falls foul of the duplication
policy and with too many suitable alternative Barclays Branches in the area,
Kings Heath closes early in 1970. This
short-lived Branch is visited not long after it first opens in 1967 by
Martins Bank Magazine, whose upbeat article about the Branch being sited in
one of the busiest shopping areas of Birmingham seems very optimistic given
what fate had in store for Martins Bank in this part of the world…
 leave the train at New Street, Birmingham, hop into a taxi and ask for
the A435. Within ten minutes, traffic permitting, you will be heading due
south down Alcester Road and passing through King's Heath. At the point where
this busy, built-up, expanding, money-spending area looks as if it might
peter out there is the new shopping block in which, just beyond the traffic
lights, stands our new Branch. King's Heath is said to be
second only to Erdington as the busiest shopping area in Birmingham but if
one may use the supermarket spread as a yardstick the gap must surely be
closing. Industry is reasonably close at King's Norton, Stirchley and
Northfield, as are the residential and retail areas of Moseley, Cotteridge
and Hall Green, but King's Heath itself is mostly residential and southwards
is the only direction in which it can spread. The siting of the new Branch is
therefore ideal— only one of our competitors is close by, the remainder being
confined in the older part of what was once a village.
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On the first floor along
with staff, voucher and storage rooms is a ready-made machine room for the
future and at the rear of the office is a car park big enough for two new
Branches. Mr W. D. Beardsley, a
native of Hinckley, came to King's Heath from pro managership at
Digbeth. Mr M. F. Heath, who began
his banking life at Derby twelve years ago, was at the time of our visit in
the last month of bachelorhood and by the time this appears in print he
will have married the daughter of Mr W. R. Gordon, retired manager of Derby
Branch. The two younger members, George Ray, with his extensive local
knowledge, his soccer skill, and his determination to get business, and
Barbara West with her enquiring mind and stickability, provide some
essential ingredients for this foothold office, the seventh full Branch
within the City.
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Our Branch is a typically modern
shop site, the frontage being a combination of frosted and plate glass
with a recessed doorway—vastly different from the pre-war shop front Branch with its
dark green curtains on a brass rail. The impression inside is entirely of
brown and white with a bowl of fresh flowers providing the needed splash of
colour. The entire wall behind the counter is of predominantly brown cork
and, even if one is tempted to feel that the only thing lacking is an
enormous wet footprint, cork's wearing properties should conceal the marks
which will accumulate inevitably when cashiers have to brush past each
other. The office is bright and,
though not extensive or of great depth, perfectly adequate for the needs of
the next few years.
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Although the need to
return quickly to Liverpool prevented a full tour of the King's Heath area,
we were very glad to meet the Midland District General Manager that same
evening and to offer him our congratulations on his newest Branch and on the staff selected to run it.
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 Friendly, helpful, considerate…
King’s Heath opens in March
1967 with wonderful newspaper advertisements similar to this one which run in
the local press. By this time, Martins
Bank’s use of zoo animals in its advertising is well known and it stands
out above the advertising of the other banks. A little girl takes her
elephant to the bank, a student has a pet zebra, a middle aged man is
worried about leaving things to a hippo in his will, a family goes on
holiday with a camel, a bank manager has cows and chickens in his interview
room – this is the kind of advertising that even fifty years on still looks
fresh and innovative. Our Archive copies of ads featuring this menagerie
have been carefully remastered from original design copy, and are featured
at various points throughout the Martins Bank web site pages…
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