Union Bank of Manchester Building

Image: © Gerald England Taken: 18 Jul 2015

The Union Bank of Manchester Building is on Bridge Street opposite Great Underbank Image is a Grade II listed building http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-210900-15-17-bridge-street- and was built in 1900. The Union Bank was established in 1836 with a capital of £6 million divided into 24,000 shares of £25 each. Although the original intention of the Union Bank was to confine itself to Manchester, after twenty years this policy was changed, and its first branch opened at Knutsford in 1856. The bank flourished with the growth of industry and acquired several smaller banks in Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire. It became an affiliated bank within the Barclays Group in 1919, when 99% of its capital was acquired under an arrangement whereby Union Bank shareholders were given shares in Barclays to replace their Union Bank shares. This was Barclays' last major acquisition before the Treasury put a block on major banking mergers in 1920. The Union Bank continued to be managed and marketed separately until 1940 when it was fully absorbed into Barclays. https://www.archive.barclays.com/items/show/5286 In recent years the building has been home to the appropriately named Bank Fashion Store. Bank Fashion which had previously been owned by JD Sports was put into administration in January 2015. It had 84 stores of which 20 have been closed. According to a sign on the window the next nearest still trading store is in Denton.

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