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 Redcar Branch is opened by Martins Bank at the end of
September 1930. It remains open for just shy of forty-one years, closing in
August 1971. In the late 1950s the
staff of Middlesbrough’s I C I Wilton Works are encouraged to have their
wages paid through the bank, as a kind of reciprocal agreement to Martins
Bank having a sub-branch on site for the exclusive use of the workers. This is a time when banks are keen to
court the custom of those who until now have only ever used cash as a
payment medium. Keen to explain this new service to the Staff of the Bank,
Martins publishes a number of short features.
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In Service: 29 September 1930 until 13 August
1971
Branch Image © Barclays Ref 0030-2409
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In the Autumn of 1958, Martins Bank Magazine features one
such scheme, “Wages through the Bank” which is operated at Redcar Branch.
(See also ICI WILTON WORKS. The Wages through the Bank Scheme is one of a number of
initiatives tried out by Martins Bank in order to attract the custom of
“ordinary people” and break down some of the barriers that hitherto had
made it somehow elitist to have a bank account. In 1957 the Bank used its popular MOBILE
BRANCH Caravans
to bring banking to housing estates.
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Wages through
the Bank…
Mrs Jean
Kitchener, cashier at Redcar Branch, handing to Mr V Goodsell, Chair of the
workers’ representativess on the Wilton Site Council, his first pay under
the new I.C.I. “Wages through the Bank” scheme.
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