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 Slowly but surely, Martins Bank moves down the
East Coast towards East Anglia, the final destination of the southern
expansion which started back in the early 1930s, but more importantly, and
perhaps frighteningly, the heartland of the Bank’s main rival –
Barclays. East Yorkshire,
Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire each receives a
scattering of branches, and in Norfolk, King’s Lynn is added, with three
further branches open in Norwich. Time is however running out, and hopes of
Martins Bank being able to complete a fully National network of branches
are dashed by the merger with Barclays.
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In Service: 1959 to 21 July 1972 then reopened 1974 until
10 May 2024
Image © Barclays ref
0030-2752
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Many of the Eastern and South Eastern branches that are
added in the 1950s and 60s are not needed by Barclays, and are closed at
the time of the merger or just after. Spalding fares better, and is still
open today, although it was originally closed for some eighteen months in
the early 1970s. Shortly after the
branch first opened for business, Martins Bank Magazine went to meet
the staff and take a look at the teak panelling and latest ceiling lighting
techniques – the kind of fixtures and fittings over which the writers of
the Magazine writers were to regularly salivate, as Martins poured more and
more money into its Branch network…
 The
right time to visit Spalding is really towards the end of April or the
beginning of May when the fields are a blaze of colour. That is the time
when the flower processions are held and cars converge from miles around to
see this spectacle of colour which rivals the fields of Holland itself. We were not able so to time our visit, and had to be
content with seeing acres of golden daffodils under a rain-washed sky. We
made our visit to the new branch on the last day of March and it rained
pitilessly from the time of our arrival until after our departure. It
takes more than a drop of water to deter us, however, as they well know in
these parts.
 Last
time we were here, to visit our new branch at Lincoln, Mr. Wilmot drove us
through what seemed to be a river in flood, and we survived that, so
Spalding held no terrors for us As a matter of fact, the visit was the
occasion for a very happy reunion. Mr. C. M. Tenneson, Manager of the new
branch, was second in command at Lincoln at the time of our visit, and we
first met Mrs. Tenneson on that occasion. It was a great pleasure to spend
a happy evening with them both. Mr. Tenneson commenced his career in the
Liverpool District and after serving there for eleven years went to the
Manchester District, where he served at various branches before his
translation to the Midland District. Mr. D. B. Woolgar, second to Mr. Tenneson,
is also known to us. He has spent all his time up to now in the London
District, at Sidcup, Chislehurst and elsewhere, but has accepted this
opportunity with alacrity and enthusiasm as a means of widening his
experience and of enabling him to fit himself for further responsibility.
His wife and family have settled down quite happily in this very different
part of the world.
Mr. David Simpson, who
travels about sixteen miles from Boston each day, is doing what he wants to
do. He was determined to get into a bank and not being able to find an
opening in Boston itself he joined Martins Bank as soon as the branch was
opened. He is very keen and conscientious and it is nice to meet someone so
happy in his job. Miss Joy Chenery,
who represents the female staff, was secretary to a farmer for several
years, but with a brother in a bank and with the desire to meet the public
she decided to exchange farm book-keeping for bank book-keeping. She had
the opportunity of spending a week at Head Office in connection with work
on the Rights Issue, but prefers to work permanently on her native heath. On seeing Spalding under the worst possible conditions,
in pouring rain at the close of market day after everyone had gone away,
our first thought was one of mild speculation as to why we had decided to
open there before Boston and Peterborough, but the place is, after all, the
capital and centre of bulbland. It is a rich town and we do need to extend
our representation further in this part of the world.
 The
branch itself is one of the most attractive of our new branches. Panelled in
teak with the latest ceiling lighting to set it off, the interior has a
sunshiny, welcoming effect. The office and the counter space are of ample
proportions and the whole effect is one of dignified modernity, exactly the
right contrast being provided by the very modern wallpaper which faces the
door and catches the eye of the customer on entering the Bank. The office
is all on one level and the Manager's room, waiting room and staff rooms
are most attractively decorated and furnished. Premises Department have
done one of their best jobs here, and the complete lack of ostentation, so
often associated with buildings of modern design, is not the least
attractive feature of the place. We toured the area around the town to get
some idea of the layout and were much impressed by the well cared for
appearance of the farm buildings everywhere. The straight rivers, not
unlike canals, the marshlands, the lines of poplars planted as wind breaks,
the ubiquity of the weeping willow tree and the fields of tulips already
showing promise of the glory to come, provided a unique and unforgettable
picture of this very distinctive corner of England with that fertile
two-crop silt, which is the foundation of its prosperity as one of the most
valuable of the market gardens of England. Just before we left we were glad to be able to pay a
quick visit to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Tenneson. It is charmingly situated
with a lovely view of trees and gardens at the rear. Mrs. Tenneson is as proud of the Bank and of her
husband's branch as he is himself and its progress is, in every sense of
the word, a family matter.
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