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Branches come in all
shapes and  sizes – from
the church like stone edifices of the Victorian age to the latest 1960s
outlets which can boast all manner of expensive construction and furnishing
materials. Brierley Hill does not
really fit the bill, and internally it is really quite plain, but of course
no one branch is ever quite like another. When these images of the Branch
arrived from Barclays, we were puzzled by how “shop-like” Brierley
Hill seems to be. We were therefore delighted to receive the following
memories from friend of the Archive Antony Watt, who confirmed our suspicions…
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In Service: 1962 until 12 December 1969
Branch
Images © Barclays Ref 0030-0388
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I’ll have a pound of sausages, and a joint of beef
please…
<,
“Brierley Hill Branch, a sub branch of Dudley, was opened in a
hurry when Marsh and Baxter were taken over by FMC (a customer of
Martins). They had their bacon
factory and head office in High Street Brierley Hill and the only premises
available to Martins were in a closed butchers shop on the opposite side of
the Street. It was all done in a
hurry and the first 2 book safes went straight through the floor into a
stream running through the basement!
This was all tiled and was where the meat was washed having been
slaughtered in the back of the shop.
Funny thing was, it still looked like a butchers shop front and
people kept coming in asking for joints of meat!”
Brierley Hill originally
part of Martins Bank’s second southern expansion, is found surplus to
requirements when Barclays takes over.The Business is transferred to
Barclays’ own Branch at 110 High Street.
Despite being a self accounting sub branch to Dudley, (which usually
implies a reasonably high volume of work) Brierley Hill sadly joins the
select group of 45 Branches that are closed on 12 December 1969, just three
days before the merger…
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