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Holloway
Road is one of the first London Branches to be opened after the creation of
the modern day Martins Bank. A Branch
is opened at 65A HOLLOWAY ROAD on 4 March 1929, and remains open
until 1940 when it is moved to the premises shown here, at No 405 Holloway
Road. The image on the right shows the branch in the days when London trams
travelled up and down Holloway Road, on their way to and from Highbury
Corner. The Branch building itself
seems almost lost at the foot of the four-storey Drivers & Norris Estate
Agents’ building. The image underneath
seems to have been taken from a closer perspective in order to try and
exclude the tramline pole that is obscuring the name of the Bank. We are delighted that these images have emerged from
Barclays’ collection, but is it a shame that we still have no interior views
of Holloway Road Branch. Early in 1970, just after the merger with Barclays,
the Business of the Branch is merged with Barclays’ the Branch next door. See
(“Then and Now” below). Under Martins
Bank, Holloway Road is a full branch which opens full banking hours across a
six day week. In the short magazine
feature below, Holloway Road branch appears to be the subject of a hold-up,
but things are not exactly what they seem… Hold-up at holloway
Road! |
In Service: 1940 until 25 August 2022 Images © Barclays Ref
0030-1333 |
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A bank raid with a difference - The ‘armed bandits’ were more intent
on catching the attention of the passers-by than on relieving our Holloway
Road Branch of its takings, and, as a matter of fact, our staff did not even
know of the ‘drama’ which was enacted outside their door until we sent them a
copy of this photograph! The Circuits’ Management Association arranged for
these five desperadoes to tour London districts where the film “The Hellions”
was showing at Odeon and Gaumont theatres, and banks and Post Offices were
included in this publicity stunt. The Hellions is a western style drama set in South Africa in the early
years of the twentieth century. It stars Richard Todd and Marty Wilde amongst
others. We don’t expect that the stars of the film themselves are taking part
in this stunt, and those in the picture will have to remain anonymous, as
Martins Bank Magazine doesn’t name them…
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