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 According to the Martins Bank
records held by Barclays, Martins Bank opened a Branch in Blackpool at 127 Lytham Road in 1928. Less than a year later, the former
Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank Branch at Lytham Street, is closed.
When Barclays and Martins
merge at the end of 1969, Lytham Road loses its Full Branch Status, becoming
a Sub to Barclays South Shore. As we
can see from the branch image, this is not quite a drive-in Branch, but it still is a very convenient place to stop
and bank.
Later on this page however,
we learn that a branch car park can also be an enticement to rob the
bank! Every building has its good side
but it looks as though this Martins Bank Branch could do with some new stick
on letters!
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In Service: 1928 until 30 April 1971
Image © Barclays Ref
0030/0290
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Nowadays those lovely ground
floor windows have been covered over, in keeping with the building’s
twenty-first century use as a betting shop…
A sign of past glories…
 It is
not possible to see clearly from either of the remaining 1960s branch images,
the elaborate Martins Bank Coat of Arms inlaid into plasterwork and supported
by metal stays above the door. Whilst
the irony of many former Bank buildings seems to be that they are now betting
shops – and 127 Lytham Road is no exception – it is nice to know that the
plasterwork Coat of Arms remains; a kind of defiant indicator of the past
glories of this particular building…
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The right “Place” at the right time……
Those of us who have worked
in the cash-filled surroundings of branch banking always dread the
thought of an armed raid. One of the
thankfully small number of tales of bravery by staff and/or customers,
printed in Martins Bank Magazine over the years, concerns the actions of Miss
Mary Place, who is a member of staff at 127 Lytham Road Branch in 1966…
  When two armed men entered Lytham Road branch on 15
February and demanded money Miss Mary Place attempted to close her till but
was threatened by one of them who fired a shot over her head. The men were
arrested the following day and have since been sentenced at Liverpool Crown
Court, but when they appeared before Blackpool Magistrates the Chairman
warmly commended Miss Place. In March
Miss Place came to Liverpool to be presented with an inscribed gold watch of
her own choice by the Chairman of the Bank.
Hearing the news on his car radio when driving home to Westmorland on
the day of the robbery he had made a detour in order to pay an unexpected and
much appreciated call on the staff at Lytham Road.
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