11-17-90 West Bromwich 1 Victoria Street Temporary Branch

Nestling in what will be the rear car park of the rebuilt branch at 290 High Street West Bromwich, is this small structure at No 1 Victoria Street which transacts the business of the branch for just over a year between 1965 and 1966.

The only image currently available is this one (right) from the newspaper that featured the re-opening of West Bromwich Branch. We are hoping to find the original, or at least another photograph of the same building with the temporary branch next to it.

Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections

The feature (this is only a small part) takes up a whole page of the Express and Star, thanks to a collaboration between the Bank, and the contractors who have rebuilt and fitted out the new Branch. It is common at this time for the Bank to share the cost of advertising in this way and still attract the attention of as many people as possible. TV advertising is still banned for Banks, nor is there commercial radio on which to advertise.

In Service: 1965 until 9 July 1966

Newspaper Images Wolverhampton Express and Star 11 July 1966

Image © Midland News Association Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive

www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

It is lovely to see Arnold the seal, and his hapless friend wheeled out again in what became an iconic series of animal-based advertisements for Martins Bank in the mid 1960s. Rufus the Elephant and his little girl owner is possibly the best remembered, but the campaign featured a Camel, Penelope the Hippo, Percy the Wallaby, Socrates the Zebra, a herd of cows, a flock of chickens, some shire horses, and of course, Arnold the seal! You can meet them all in our feature ADVERTISING – THE 1960s.