|
A bag of threepenny bits
and
a root canal, please…
The Bank
of Liverpool and Martins opens this branch at Chatton in 1927. It is just not quite clear enough to see
every word, but the signs on the wall outside Chatton sub-Branch promise
something a little more than just banking – It would seem that the dental
practice of Mr R Darling, and Mr G S Yeoman, shares the same building, so why
not top off the refusal of an overdraft by having a tooth out! Under Martins Bank, Chatton is controlled
from Wooler Branch, and has quite an interesting life.
|
In Service: 1927 until 30 June 1970
Branch
Images © Barclays Ref 0030-0601
|
|
 It survives the upheavals
both of war and of bank merger, until the doors are closed on banking for the
final time in 1970. As one of many
branches mothballed during World War 2, many of which are NOT re-opened, Wooler
is closed down from 1942 to 1946. This
is because the demands of the Kennet committee require more and more bank
staff to be withdrawn from civilian life for active service, and as Chatton
would normally open for less than two
hours each week, it is not worth trying to staff the branch. After re-opening in 1946, Wooler remains in
service for another twenty-four years, just making it past the merger with
Barclays by six months. Barclays wants
their new investment to pay its way, and the economic reality of having to
pay rent and rates for a building that is so little in use, closes another
chapter in Martins Bank’s history…
|
2ep6