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New, but thankfully
not too shocking…
 With
the exception of 68 Lombard Street, most of the fifteen branches of the old Martin’s
Private Bank are based mainly on the South Eastern outskirts of London, and
in Kent. Following the formation of
the Bank of Liverpool and Martins, and the subsequent creation of Martins
Bank Limited, branches are opened throughout the City of London itself.
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In Service:
16 January 1964 until June 1979
Image © Martins Bank
Archive Collections
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 Many are opened in key places, and many have
exclusive addresses – Sloane Street, Westminster, Curzon Street, Wigmore
Street, Covent Garden - by 1969 the list extends to some forty branches in
and around London.
In 1964 it is the turn of Piccadilly to receive the
thoroughly modern and exceedingly helpful Martins touch – a newly built
branch including a grasshopper and liver bird sculpture that can be seen from
quite a distance. This particular design of the Martins Bank Coat of
Arms is found at the entrance to 84 Piccadilly Branch in London The metal
sculptures of the Liver Bird and Grasshopper are made of fired and lacquered
metals by the Artist Jan Kepinski. Yet another example of the many and varied
artworks commissioned by Martins Bank in the 1960s, the Piccadilly Sculptures
are unique.
The building is now a big
brand coffee house, and there is no sign of the sculpture. We assume that it
is missing presumed scrapped, but if of course you know differently, please
do let us know. When Martins
Bank Magazine visits Piccadilly early in 1964, we are given some idea of the
stir the new branch has caused. The
rather laborious public school analogy will seem dated, but by all accounts
Piccadilly Branch is a very positive step forward for Martins Bank…
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 there is no branch like this—yet. The new office which opened on January 16th
at 84 Piccadilly is a showpiece and a tremendously effective one. It might
have been devastatingly contemporary, outré, garish or just wildly
hideous—anything to make an impact—but it is none of these. It is most
impressive. Passers-by, looking through the double-glazed windows, may
realise that somebody has achieved the near-impossible, providing a building
with a personality. Inevitably opinions will
vary and we have been thinking of a certain Smith minor on Speech Day (or was
it Commem ?) when parents from far and wide arrived from breakfast-time
onwards ('Are your people coming too, Jenners ?') Smith minor welcomed his
parents and his elder sister with some reserve:
 'But, mater, did you have to wear that hat? And to his sister, 'Hang it, Sue!
All those flowers and that skirt. I
mean to say'. To both of
them, surprised by his reactions, 'Yes, but what will the chaps say? After all, I've got to
live with them, I mean.' Poor Smith mi: he suffered agonies, didn't he? But do you remember how 'the mater' made a tremendous hit
with the Headmaster and how Carruthers (Head of School and Captain of
Everything) was seen talking animatedly to Sue as they walked round the
boundary in full view of everybody? Well, there are going to be Smith minors
about Piccadilly branch but we suspect that Carruthers, who led the way and
won the day, or someone very like him, had a hand in creating the new branch.
Thanks to air-conditioning and sealed windows the
noise and dust of Piccadilly are excluded and as each step has a rubber pad
on the tread, the glass entrance doors, framed in stainless steel, slide open
noiselessly as one approaches. And so they remain if one stops, as one does
involuntarily, to look at our old friends the Grasshopper and the Liver Bird
glinting wickedly through their metal eyes. They have been made from sheets
of fired and lacquered steel with molten brass and copper dropped on to give
richness and texture. The emblems, backed by
white Pentellic marble which continues inside, set the tone for the whole
place. Green leather-upholstered strips adorn the counter front and the
partitions and doors to the general office which are topped by green glass.
The counter is of Scots granite.
But enough! If you are in London we suggest you see it for yourself
but be prepared, if you are a Smith minor, for Mr Denis McNair, our Manager,
to convert you to a Carruthers. It is
appropriate that Mr McNair, who last year was Mayor of Paddington, has been
invited to stand for the new Hyde Park Ward in the May elections for the new
City of Westminster which, incorporating the Boroughs of Westminster, St
Marylebone and Paddington, will have a total rateable value exceeding one
hundred million pounds.
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Mr McNair is delighted that his new branch will be in the heart
of the new city, and is getting the fullest support from his
second-in-command, Mr J. G. Killick, another enthusiast. Mr A. E. Holland, 'the man everyone sees', dominates the
counter, sharing cashiering duties with Mr P. Dean, while the fifth male
member of the staff is Mr M. G. Greenroyd, a London-born Yorkshireman who
still follows the fortunes of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Miss P. E. Miller, secretary to Mr McNair, came with him
from Edgware Road branch, as did Miss V. Wood, while Miss Matthews was
previously in Clearing Department. As might be expected, all the staff spoke
highly of the new premises and the surroundings. On leaving the branch we found the provocative
Grasshopper and Liver Bird still glinting outrageously at us and we had a
sudden thought that somebody might say Piccadilly branch is 'fab'. That just
would not do. Carruthers wouldn't stand for it either.
The
things they say…
Overheard outside
Piccadilly Branch:
FIRST GIRL : “That bank’s Head Office is in Liverpool,
you know”
SECOND GIRL : “Oh!
So that’s why they’ve got a beetle on the wall!”
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