IT has been 40 years since the first 800 people started working for Barclays in Dorset.

The bank's huge building came to dominate the skyline of Poole.

Of the 800 people employed on day one, 500 were recruited locally, while another 1,200 would be recruited locally the following year.

The Barclays building had been taking shape for several years, through the economic problems of the time including the three-day week of 1974.

In the late 1960s, Poole had been picked as the only town of 16 selected by the board that fully met the requirements of the then Barclays Bank DCO (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas).

A public inquiry led to planning permission being given for the distinctive three-tower, nine-storey building in August 1971. The cost of the project was estimated at £5million.

The bank spent four years transferring its work out of London, intending to minimise the effect of an influx of people into Poole's housing and employment market.

Barclays chairman Anthony Tuke unveiled a plaque at the building’s opening ceremony on January 27, 1976.

The scale of Barclays’ operation in the building is much smaller today. The 21st century brought several rounds of job losses, and in 2007 the bank announced that more than half the 1,900 permanent roles there would go by 2010.