Records reveal that a historic Liverpool city centre bank used to keep insulting descriptions of its customers so that the clerks working there could recognise them.
These days, banks tend to go the extra mile to look after their customers, but one early Liverpool bank took a different approach and it was probably best that its customers never knew what the bank staff thought of them. The Grade II listed Brunswick Street building that today houses The Alchemist cocktail bar was once home to Heywood's Bank.
Built in 1800, the building is Liverpool’s oldest surviving purpose-built bank. The fascinating history of the institution, published in 1949 and available on the Martins Bank archive website ( www.martinsbank.co.uk ), reveals clerks found a creative way to keep track on their many illiterate customers in the early 19th century.
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Discovered in the vaults of the old bank were stored ledgers which go back to the time of the French Revolution and signature books which were in use during the Napoleonic wars. Physical descriptions of each of its customers were written in their "signature book" - and it's fair to say that some were less than flattering.
One read: "Little pug-faced woman with a squeaky voice." Another read: "Rather short and remarkably plain. A little like a monkey."
Other descriptions include: "Rings on her fingers. About 12 hands high"; "Shows the whites of his eyes all round"; "Sallow, and marked with smallpox"; "Old man, red wig, wedding ring on right hand".
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While many of the descriptions are less than complimentary, there's no doubt the creative characterisations paint a striking picture of the people who used the bank in its day. Who could fail to conjure an image of the "Young woman, rather bold-looking. Dark hair and eyes." Or the "Sharp-faced old woman. Punch's spirity woman."
Another more descriptive entry reads: "Short man. Whiskers all round his face, one tooth out in front. Looks like a coal heaver."
Heywood's was founded in 1773 by merchant Arthur Heywood. The bank was later bought by the Bank of Liverpool, which in turn acquired Martin’s Bank. And, in the early 1960s, the branch that pioneered shorthand descriptions of its customers, became a pioneer of new-fangled computer technology.
Martins was one of the first banks to computerise its transactions and Heywood's was one of the first branches to trial the technology. Barclays eventually took over Martins Bank in the 1960s.
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Since the turn of the 21st century, the building has been used as a bar and brasserie, and most recently, is now home to the popular bar The Alchemist.
