11-35-60 Bristol Newfoundland Street

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Martins Bank’s South Western District has been expanding since its creation in 1960, and by 1967 its programme of new Branches for Bristol is almost complete. The latest of these modern outlets is opened in Newfoundland Street – an aptly named location perhaps, for a bank which prides itself on being “pioneering”.

The Newfoundland Street Branch is run as a self-accounting sub-Branch to Bristol Queen Square. At this point in the development of Martins Bank’s Network of Branches, it would seem that dark marble is de rigueur. Most new bank branches built at this time appear to have striven to obtain modern looks from traditional materials, some are successful, others are not.

In Service: 26 January 1967 until 16 November 1987

Image © Barclays Ref: 0030-0417

At first glance you might think that the upstairs windows have been boarded up – this is actually a concrete / pebble dash facing that fills half of each window space, with the glass window seated above. It looks like the camera angle might just have made this particular feature look uneven. There is not much information available for this particular sub-branch: - exterior photos only, the name of the Clerk in Charge – Mr J F Hearle (who can be seen below), and not even another branch of a rival bank listed in the same street! It may well be this last fact that allows Newfoundland Street to remain open for twenty years…