11-05-50 Staveley sub to Kendal

This is how Martins Bank Staveley Branch looks in the twenty first century, lovingly maintained by the owner of this private house in Main Street since Barclays closed the Branch in the early 1990s. Our period images below show this lovely little sub-Branch in the late 1950s, and again in the late 1960s. Although there is no longer a real bank behind the door, the building has continuously had the word “bank” on it for well over a century.

In Service: Pre 1893 until 26 June 1993

Staveley dates back to the days of Messrs Wakefield Crewdson, The Kendal Bank, and is amongst a number of Martins Bank’s sub-Branches that are to be found literally in the front room of someone’s house. Such Branches have always opened for just a few hours each week giving the local pub, post office and perhaps butcher’s and baker’s the chance to pay in takings and obtain change at a time when travel outside the village environment is enjoyed by relatively few people. For more examples of these tinier sub-Branches from the Northern District of Martins Bank, why not visit: HEYSHAM, CATON, HORNBY or BURTON IN KENDAL.

The writing is not exactly on the wall for Staveley, more on the window next to the door, as a familiar black sign (just visible) announces the arrival of Barclays to the former Kendal Empire of Martins Bank…