Barclays Bank, originally built as the London and Provincial Bank in 1893, is one of several prestigious buildings erected in Pontypool at the end of the 19th and at the turn of the 20th century. It is constructed in a prominent position on the junction between Commercial Street and Park Road, making the building a dominant feature when travelling north bound on Commercial Street. Designed by Steward & Thomas of Cardiff, it is built using bath stone ashlars in a mixed Renaissance style with a dramatic facade created with a bowed end, which is finished with a double dormer and conical, slated roof complete with a lead capping. On the bowed facade, the entrance has a shallow porch, which rises on classical pilasters to a bowed pediment, the first floor Georgian sash windows are separated and framed by plain pilasters, which is mirrored on the second floor and within the dormer window. The east elevation is constructed of brick, with a large number of narrow non-bar sash windows with swept brick heads, a single bay window at first floor height sits on the side of the building below one dormer and two half-dormer windows. The west elevation is much more elaborate when compared to the east as it remains in the Renaissance style as used on the bowed end, with all windows being framed by pilasters. The ground-floor has a number of arched windows, with the second and third floor windows being sashed with flat heads. Across the south and west elevations ornamental stone banding at first and second floor levels with an ornate cornice; these do extend onto the east elevation, becoming plain and in brick.

- Pontypool: Understanding Urban Character, Cadw, 2012
- The Buildings of Wales; Gwent/Monmouthshire, John Newman, 2000

Ross Cook, RCAHMW. 8th January 2013