In October 1888, County of Gloucester Bank Ltd opened its first Cardiff branch in St Mary Street. Two years later, work began on the erection of a new Bute Docks branch at 15 Mount Stuart Square. While construction was still underway, they purchased the adjoining premises at number 16, which were incorporated to provide a larger building. The banking business occupied the ground floor while the upper parts, known as Gloucester Chambers, were used by coal and shipping companies.
County of Gloucester was taken over by Lloyds Bank in 1897 and the Mount Stuart Square branch did not survive for long afterwards. From 1902 until the 1950s, Evan Roberts Ltd – better known in later years for their store at the corner of Queen Street and Kingsway – had a clothing shop in the former bank. Gloucester Chambers continued to provide offices for a variety of business; by the 1930s, though, coal and shipping businesses had given way to firms of accountants and solicitors.
In the 1960s, reflecting the changing fortunes of Cardiff Docks, 15 & 16 Mount Stuart Square was tenanted by a filing systems company and a turf commission agent, but it seems to have been vacant by 1970 – several years before Mary Traynor’s 1982 drawing. Following demolition, the site is now occupied by a modern brick-built office building and associated car parking spaces.
David Webb, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer
Sources consulted:
- Mary Traynor Collection [D1093/2/27]
- Cardiff Borough, building regulation plans, plan for extension of County of Gloucester Bank, 16 Mount Stuart Square, 1891 [BC/S/1/8188]
- Various Cardiff directories
- Western Mail, 6 Oct 1888
- South Wales Daily News, 19 July 1890
- Evening Express, 18 June 1891
- South Wales Echo, 29 March 1954
- http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/Our-Group/our-heritage/our-history/lloyds-bank/county-of-gloucester-bank/
- http://coflein.gov.uk
Glamorgan Archives 