May 2022
I visited with @stranton and @coolboyslim whilst on a tour bus trip to the Potteries. To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about this visit and only recently found the photos on an old SD card. This isn't a massive report, as the building is fairly small and apart from the customer area and a few of the rooms upstairs, there really isn't anything interesting to shout about. The building was constructed by the Midland Bank in 1921. The stonework on the front of the building shows the year 1836 which is actually the year that the Birmingham & Midland Bank was established.
The bank has clearly been modernised later in it's life with a lot of the original paneling and plasterwork that the Midland was known for removed. As banking moved to a more centralised model during the 20th century, the space requirement in branches diminished to the point that they were able to split the building into two units, the ground floor of the building remained as a bank and the upper floor was occupied by United Friendly Insurance, who have since rebranded as Royal London. In 1992 Midland was acquired by HSBC and the former midland branches were slowly rebranded over the next few years, which included this one.
The upper floor appears to have been out of use for a significant amount of time now and looking at what remains of the ground floor, I'd say it closed sometime around 2015. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the strong room in the basement as it was holding a good half metre of water at the time of our visit.
[1]
[2] - Banking Hall
[3] - The Counter
[4] - Rest Of The Counter
[5] - The 'Secure Area'
[6] - Staircase To The United Friendly Insurance Office
[7] - Upper Floor Office Area (Note the original fireplace and parquet floor)
[8]
Cheers for looking 
Canon EOS 70D, 10-18 EFS
Canon EOS 70D, 10-18 EFS
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