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  after spending all but two of
his 43 years' service in Leeds it did not surprise his colleagues when Mr
Barnes, Manager of Vicar Lane branch, announced his intention to spend his
retirement in Leeds among his many friends. He was saying a word of thanks for their help and
generosity at a retirement
ceremony held at the branch on June 29 and attended by 40 past and present
colleagues. A cheque had been presented to him on behalf of subscribers by
Mr J. Servant (District General Manager) who spoke of his long and pleasant
association with Mr Barnes and wished him a long and happy retirement.
After Mr Whiteman had added the good wishes of
the staff, Mrs Barnes received a bouquet from Mrs Walton. The guests were then entertained to a buffet meal
arranged by Mrs Barnes. After entering the
Bank at Leeds in 1922 Mr Barnes's only excursion outside the city was for
two years at Ripon branch from 1930. A short spell in District Office in
1949 was followed by appointment as Pro Manager at Vicar Lane where in 1960
he became Manager.
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All Branch
Images © Barclays Ref 30/1588
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 The
riddle of Vicar Lane…
Our good friend and former Martins Colleague Dave Baldwin has provided
us with some wonderful photographs of how some of Martins Bank’s Branches
look today – be they betting shop, beauty salon, bakery, bookshop or
boutique. At the end of 2013 he was in Leeds, and took some shots of Vicar
Lane Branch. It was only when he
compared them with the originals from Barclays’ collection of Martins
Branch Photos, that he saw something very puzzling…
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1938
–Images (Combined) © Barclays
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2013/14 –
Image © Dave Baldwin
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In order to see just what’s been going on with this Branch, we have,
first of all, made a COMPOSITE (left) of the two 1938 images of Vicar
Lane from the Barclays collection. When you compare this with Dave’s 2013
image, it certainly looks like subsequent owners have been extremely busy
down the years – to the right as we look at the building, we’ve lost two
arched windows in favour of doors with small windows above them. A whole new set of nine windows is
now in the brickwork section where once there were only four – and is that
an extension on the far right, where in 1938 we see a gap and plain
daylight? Now the plot thickens even
more – when we separate out the two black and white images, there are
actually differences between those, too!
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Front and RIGHT
side of building
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Front and LEFT
side of building
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To the left of the building as we look at it, what was once an ornate
window with a small doorway underneath suddenly becomes just a large
window, and the window to the left of that has been made to look the
same so that they both come down almost to floor level. It would therefore
appear that changes to this building have been going on more or less since
Martins first opened the front doors!
Historians and those with extremely long memories, are welcome to
add to the debate by emailing us – martinsbankarchive@btinternet.com
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