11-83-80 Sheffield University

Sheffield is amongst the first of Martins Bank’s university Branches, opened on the crest of the huge wave of university expansion that takes place in the 1960s. This branch is certainly striking and quite unusual and it provides the public with a full banking service, and students with financial advice for the full six days of the banking week.

Sheffield University is a self-accounting sub branch to the main Sheffield Branch at West Street, with a clerk in charge able to take some lending decisions.

Student Banking defines the start of competition amongst the banks for the custom of ordinary people – young people, who if caught and nurtured at the right time will turn into the “high net worth” customers of tomorrow - or so the theory goes - and until the mid-1990s British banks fall over themselves and each other to provide bigger and better incentives to students.

In Service: 1960 until 8 July 1977

Image © Barclays Ref 0030-2615

These include clothing, sports bags, electronic gadgets, and the kind of interest-free borrowing the average small business would happily kill for! Eventually, and as only they can, the students show themselves to be boss, ever larger numbers failing to repay their loans and overdrafts, many showing little or no loyalty by moving to other banks at the drop of a hat. In the twenty-first century, it is good to see a return to kind of values shown by Martins fifty years ago, where managing money with care takes precedence over “what’s in it for me” … Leaflets entitled “About a bank account” and “You’ll need a bank account whilst at the university” are printed by the Bank and distributed to just about every university in England.

Whether Martins has a bank on campus, or nearby, it wants to make sure that students choose the bank with the “especially friendly service”. The leaflets contain useful information not only about having a student account, but also such things as maps of the university campus and pictures of branches. Sheffield has four branches altogether in the City of Sheffield, and the leaflet provides details of each of them, showing that students are welcome at any branch. Sheffield University Branch survived the merger with Barclays, and continued to serve students until 1977. The building was later used as part of the university’s audio visual department.

Leaflet Images © Martins Bank Archive Collections