The other day I came across this advertisement in a British newspaper, dated 1960.

I think it’s an interesting capsule of social history. Single ladies could apply for permanent employment, with pension rights and the promise of a gratuity on marriage.  Married ladies were restricted to temporary employment, but at the same rates of pay.

You may, like me, be intrigued by the bank’s address. Poultry is still a road in the commercial heart of London.  It runs for 100 metres between Cheapside and Cornhill, immediately to the south-west of the Bank of England and close to Grocers’ Hall Court, Old Jewry and Ironmonger Lane.  It was where chickens were sold 500 years ago.

I love places that retain their history in their names – and in their monuments (see my earlier post ‘Cecil Rhodes and Other Reminders’). There was a call to change the name of Liverpool’s Penny Lane, made famous by The Beatles, because it was named after the slave-trader James Penny.  I’m glad to say that the good Councillors decided against a change.