11-59-71 Sea Houses

If Sea Houses Branch were a car, someone would surely have written “clean me” in the grime by now! Situated in one of the most beautiful parts of England, Sea Houses sits on the coast of Northumberland.

Almost due North across the sea are the Farne Islands, home to seal colonies and sea birds, an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Sea Houses

In Service: September 1876 until 14 July 2023

Image © Barclays Ref: 0030-2577

In September 1876, the North Eastern Banking Company opens a branch at Sea Houses, which is inherited – along with a sub-Branch at Bamburgh – by the Bank of Liverpool in 1914, and progresses to the ownership of Martins Bank in 1928. This image from the 1930s shows Sea Houses branch under a considerable amount of grime. In the twenty-first century, the building was home to Barclays until 14 July 2023. In February 1963 Martins Bank’s Sea Houses Manager Mr Swanson is about to retire early through ill-health. Note that by this time he has already served forty years – these really are the days of the job for life! and in the feature below, note also the retirement gift his colleagues have clubbed together to buy for him.	Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections
The genuine wishes of good health that come with this gift seem totally incongruous in our health aware and health conscious twenty-first century. What an illustration of just how much times have changed… *At the end of February Mr. J. Swanson (Manager, Sea Houses) retired prematurely on the grounds of ill health.* Prior to his retirement Mr. Swanson was entertained to lunch in Newcastle by Mr. W. Weatherill (North Eastern District General Manager) who was also present at a cocktail party given by Mr. Swanson at his home to past and present members of the Sea Houses staff. In making the presentation of an inscribed silver cigarette box on behalf of subscribers, Mr. J. C. Henderson, the second-in-command, expressed regret at Mr. Swanson's early retirement and added the hope that once relieved of business cares his health would speedily improve. After Mr. Swanson had suitably replied, Miss Hope presented a bouquet to Mrs. Swanson. Entering the service of the Bank in 1923 at Amble, Mr. Swanson subsequently served at Newbiggin and Rothbury before his appointment as Manager at Sea Houses in 1951. He spent the years 1941-46 in H.M. Forces.

Almost one year after the doors closed for the final time, we compare and contrast Sea Houses Branch as it was in the 1960s, with how it looked in July 2024. Although sad and a little eery – with the faint trace of Martins Bank’s lettering above the door, there have been few changes to the building, and you would be hard-pressed to find anything relating to Barclays’ time there. Our thanks to Dave Baldwin of the Grasshopper pensioners’ Club for this contemporary shot of Sea Houses in the twenty-first century…