High Street

It was, and still is, quite common to replicate a building on the same site. My opinion, for what it's worth, is it was a complete new build following the style of the old building.

Just to throw a spanner in the works. Allwoods Atkins and Turton from my memories were in the building that is now Britannia Building Society. My aunt was the cashier there, cashiers office was in the corner of the shop and transaction paperwork was passed to her by an overhead cable system. You paid at the cashiers hatch, a very early checkout system. Martins Bank was almost opposite the grand pillars of Lloyds Bank. Allwoods was a few doors away towards the Council House

The pillars belonged to National Provincial Bank, later Nat-West. Lloyds is the 'mausoleum' on the other side of Greyfriars Lane

For those who haven't got this super book, below is the photo from mid-Victorian times. Isn't it wonderful and atmospheric - with children leaning out of the upper window when they realise that they'll be in one of the modern, new-fangled photographic picture type things!!! As Tony has previously pointed out, the windows of 'Atkins' are different heights.... so the question is - were just the windows and facia altered - or was the whole building really built as an almost exact replica of the one that stood before it? In this book David McGrory states that the same building later became Atkins, then the bank, etc.... and to be honest, I've never seen any evidence in Coventry's history that any buildings have been replicated. Anyway, enjoy the photo....

Taken the day after. Smoke still drifting up from the what is left of the buildings next door.

Great photo Baz Here's a few more, all taken on the same day in the mid-1980's By the look of the arched segments in the ground floor windows, and the brick detail, above and central to the upper windows, they certainly appear to be different from the early photos.

Great stuff once again Tony cheers Really remember that building well in the 70's/80's until they knocked it down - Whoever agreed to that?!!! Researching this thread came across this site dedicated to the Bank. Even includes a staff gallery! 'Borrowed' this 1944 image from a Dutchman post on the Coventry Message Board (hope that's ok Dutchy!?)

Thanks Neil - and what a fantastic photo! (I see the weather hasn't changed much!) You can see the covers over the ground-floor windows - no doubt did a good job of protecting those beautiful arched frames.

I have emailed Lloyds main HQ in London about this building, and to my surprise, they came back to me. Well done Lloyds. I first asked about the beehive. They say there is no evidence that the beehive symbol was used by the bank until after an incident which occurred in 1822. For late in that year the Balloon Post Coach en route to Birmingham was robbed at an inn yard in London. Amongst the items stolen were two bundles of £5 and £1 notes (totalling over £4,000) issued by Messrs. Taylors & Lloyds. This loss prompted the partners into making their notes more distinctive. The motif chosen was the beehive. But the disappearance of the beehive was gradual. An article in the bank's magazine 'The Dark Horse' of August 1922 suggested a design for a company badge that gave equal prominence to the beehive and the black horse. To as late as 1930 the beehive motif, often used earlier in conjunction with the black horse on the bank's stationery, was carved in stone above branch doorways. Then I asked if they owned the bank at 22 High Street. It was a yes and also a twist. Under the banks at 22-21 are vaulted cellars dating back many years before the banks were even there. They are listed in the British History online.

Fascinating, thanks Baz! I've read in another thread on here that all of the buildings along that side of High Street also have these same cellars/basements - which I think were all inter-connected at some time.

Here is a little more of Coventry's Banking history. The first bank to open in Coventry was Wyatt, Inge and Lant, established in 1790 in the High Street. This bank was known as Beck & Prime by 1829. Coventry & Warwickshire Banking Company was a joint stock bank formed in December 1835 by some of the prominent citizens of the town. It was the result of urgent popular demand, and aimed to offer the public greater security. Its first address was in Hertford Street, but it soon transferred to offices at 25 High Street, following its takeover of Beck & Prime, also in 1835. The second bank to be absorbed by the rapidly growing Coventry & Warwickshire Banking Co. was Goodall, Gulson & Co. in 1839. This bank had been formed in 1810 as Eagle, Goodall & Co. In 1879 Coventry & Warwickshire Banking Co. was in a strong position to demand very favourable terms for its shareholders when Lloyds Banking Company made them an offer of amalgamation. Although Lloyds already had a branch in Coventry at 19 Hertford Street (est. 1874), the business was moved to the former Coventry & Warwickshire premises at 25 High Street. Many thanks to Lloyds Bank for all the details.

I have managed to get this pic of the whole building now. The beehive was in fact near the centre of the building, before the bombs came along. Most of that side of the road was connected via the cellars, and I do have a pic of that too. No bank vaults down there I'm afraid. Not sure when this was taken, but I've photo'd it myself as the newspaper was looking worse for wear.

Hi Baz, hi all I have enjoyed reading this banking thread. The Co-op bank was founded in Manchester, a long long time ago as a loan bank. It did not become a clearing bank until the seventies. (A clearing bank is a bank that can issue its own chequers & clear them directly from account to account, without using another bank). It describes itself as an 'ethical' bank. It is not a true co-operative bank in the strict sense ot the term co-op, because it is owned by the Co-op, not the members. It is in effect a wholly owned subsidiary company. Most of our building society banks are not clearing banks. When I pay a cheque into my local building society, it only gets cleared when the building society pass it on to their bankers. That is why historically, clearance times have been much longer than for a cheque being presented at a clearing bank. That extra delay should have been a thing of the past. Way back in the sixties, banks were using electronic means of transmitting funds, cheques etc, called 'BACS', 'Bank automatic clearance system' which took three days. Nowadays with on-line stuff, CHAPs (Clearing House Automated Payment System) should really be a lot faster.

Thanks Philip and all who have or are reading this. A lot of the information came from Lloyds themselves, but I also found on the world wide web another piece of banking history. Nothing to do with Coventry I am afraid. This is about Martins Bank. One of there main branches was in Liverpool and during the war, the British Government was getting worried at Germany laying their hands on our Gold Reserve. As far as I can tell, 3 train loads left London under very tight security on three dead of nights. They transported the gold to the bank vaults of Martins Bank in Liverpool, this being large enough and secure enough to house it all. But as Germany pushed into France, they decided to move the gold to Canada. It was said it was a lot harder to remove it from the basement vault than getting it in there. A pulley system had to be rigged up and a hole made in the wall. It's funny that I found out that the gold made it to Canada, But there is no record of it coming back! There was a film made about it in the 60's, 'The Bullion Boys' I think it was called.