image above: Looking down Peter Street 1923 to the junction with Dolphin Street - St Peter's Church left & J. Melhuish Ltd, Temperance Hotel far right of picture.

Peter Street

1 W. Barratt &Co. Ltd. - Boot and Shoe Manufacturer

This company also had premises at 3 Wine Street.

2-3 Bond & Son. - Hosiers

4-6 J. Melhuish Ltd.

7 C. Stuckey & Son Ltd. - Clothier

Upper floor: A. Horsley, Ladies' and Gent's Tailor.

8 H. Carey. - Tobacconist

Upper floor: Crantley Simmons, Gent's hairdressers.

9 Verrechia & Sons. - Ice-Cream Manufacturer

As well as being a shop selling ice cream, the premises included a seating area where customers could eat ice cream sundaes, etc. This shop was very popular on those long hot summer days of years past, huge queues sometimes blocked the pavement. Verrechia a family run business also had premisies in Brislington with a large fleet of ice-cream vans. And were one of the first to sell ice-cream in Bristol at East Street Bedminster.

10-11 Compton & Co. (Bristol) Ltd - Costumiers

12 Vacant

These premises were occupied by Lloyds Bank (opened 8 April 1929) until September 1939 when it closed due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

13-14 Currys Ltd. - Cycle and Radio Retailer

Curry's also sold camping equipment and toys, and had additional premises at 139 East Street. After the war they moved to one of the temporary single-storey shops in Lower Castle Street.

15 The Fox. - Public House

Landlord: R. Harris (previously Arthur Pollett and a Mr Lyons) Brewery: Georges Brewery.

image above: Peter Street packed with people and traffic, with the wall of St Peter's Church on the right and the sign for Melhuish Hotel and Restaurant in the top left, (c.1936) Just 4 years before it would be lost forever.

The News Theatre - Cinema

(Proprietor: Jacey Cinemas Ltd) These premises were originally called the Queens Hall (with 500 seats), which opened in 1910. To accommodate the demand to see silent films it was converted to Bristol's first purpose-built cinema in 1915 and renamed the Queens Picture House. By the 1930s the arrival of 'talkies' meant there was a need to modernise (this included new frontage of glass and chrome and a sliding roof for ventilation) based on the design of the architect W.H. Watkins (who also designed the Regent in Castle Street).

The refurbished premises opened on 26 December 1933, with the number of seats reduced to 385 and renamed The News Theatre. By 1940 the opening hours were midday to 9.30 p.m., programmes (two newsreels, a magazine feature and a cartoon) lasting approximately one hour, entrance fee 7d (3p) or 1s 2d (6p).

The premises were damaged in the blitz of 24 November 1940, but repairs were quickly made and reopened on 23 December 1940. The cinema eventually closed for business in 1956 and the building was demolished in 1959 - finally beaten by planners and television sets!

20-21 Vacant

Until approximately 1938 this building was occupied by the fondly-remembered Lake's Oyster Bar. Occupying these premises for at least twenty-five years, customers could stand at the counter (there were no seats) and eat cockles, mussels, whelks, etc. The owner kept a parrot in the shop, its perch being near the counter. In 1938 the premises were temporarily an amusement arcade.

22 Western Vintage Wine Co. - Wine and Spirit Merchants.

This company also had premises at Church Road, Redfield and New Station Road, Fishponds.

23 William Alfred Miller. - Boot Repairer

24 Knight & Co. - Gold Blocker and Badge Makers

This company is still in business today as Knights Rosettes & Badges Ltd on St Michael's Hill.

Bear & Rugged Staff. - Public Home

Landlord: Howard Henry Herniman (previously it was a Mr Wakefield) Brewery: Georges Brewery The original building on this site was built in 1653, the cellar communicating with the dungeons of the old Bristol Castle, to which there was still access in the 1930s. On the night of the 24 November 1940 blitz the landlord, his wife (Nell) and three others spent the night in the cellar, the niece of the landlord (Margaret Edgeworth) spending most of the night in a beer barrel for protection! After the war Howard and Nell Herniman ran a fruit shop at the top of Christmas Steps. The pub survived the war and remained open until January 1968. It was demolished in October 1969.

25 Smart Milliners (Proprietor: Edward H. Drew Ltd)

Between these premises and St Peter's Church was the side entrance to the Regent Cinema.

image left: The Cat & Wheel, which was in Castle Green, and the Bear & Rugged Staff (in Peter Street) public houses, (c.1930) Note the very large sign for J. Macey's shop on the other side of the road such signs were very popular before the war.

St Peter's Church

Rector — Revd Eric Stephen Loveday, who lived at Limerick Road, Redland.

By common consent this was the mother church of Bristol, first mentioned in 1 106. Towards the end of the fourteenth century, the original building was replaced by the one which exists today, or rather what is left of it. The church was closely connected with nearby Bristol Castle and when the latter was demolished in 1646 on the order of Oliver Cromwell, the church nearly suffered the same fate (due to its proximity to the castle it was considered, for military reasons, to be a source of danger) — the arrival of Prince Rupert with 2(1,000 men saved it from destruction.

The church contained many relics and memorials of its time - a Cromwellian suit of armour, carvings, brasses, a beautiful screen produced by Sir Harold Brakespeare, Georgian candelabra and spectacular stained-glass windows. There were two impressive tombs -one of Robert Aldworth and the other of the Newton family. The poet Richard Savage (who died in the nearby Newgate Goal) was buried in an unidentified grave in the churchyard.

The tower contained an impressive peal of eight bells, cast in 1729 by Abraham Rudhall. and one had the inscription, 'I to the church the living call and to the grave do summon all'. In 1940 it had the oldest church bell in Bristol, which was sent to Canada following the blitz of 24 November 1940 as the building was severely damaged.

26 A.F. Merriott Ltd - Wireless Dealers

J. Melhuish Ltd

Joshua Melhuish had a farm in Devon which in the 1870s suffered from a serious fire, so he moved to Bristol and set up a dairyman and confectioner business in premises at 81 Old Market Street. The business got into difficulties (Joshua was a bit of a lad and no doubt running a business was not his forte) and his son William, who was editor of the 'Malvem Times', left his job and moved to Bristol to help his father. In 1877 they acquired additional premises at 4-6 Peter Street, with William now running this business which involved the selling of confectionery, a cafe and hotel. In time, Joshua became a religious person, joining the Salvation Army - no doubt this was the reason why he owned a temperance hotel.

He felt sorry for the local factory and shop girls; in the winter months lie allowed them to bring their own sandwiches into the cafe to eat and they only needed to purchase a drink.

At 4—5 Peter Street the two buildings were occupied as shops selling ice cream (made on the premises to their own secret recipe), sweets (over 500 varieties), cakes and bread (with their own bakery on site), cooked meats, Devonshire clotted cream and other dairy produce. There was also a cafe and ice cream parlour with the large kitchen in the basement area. Many people still recall today the wonderful smell of the products on sale at these premises.

No.6 Peter Street was a hotel and restaurant; the hotel's main customers were commercial travellers and it had approximately twenty-five bedrooms. The main entrance was in Peter Street, but there was another in Church Lane. Each of the hotel's customers was provided with slippers and a hot water bottle for the period of their stay. The business had a reputation as a 'home from home', cheap but clean. The bedrooms of the hotel occupied the upper floors of Nos 4, 5 and 6 Peter Street. There were two restaurants on the ground floor - a smaller one at the front and a larger one behind (running parallel with Church Lane).

They were used by hotel residents and also open to the general public. The hotel's kitchen was the same as that used by the cafe at 5 Peter Street. Outside the premises, on the corner of Peter Street and Church Lane, was a lady selling apples, believed to be Granny Keating who lived at 4 Upper Terrace. A newspaper seller could also be found outside the hotel.

All of the buildings were destroyed following the blitz on 24 November 1940 — the two managers lived at the premises but, fortunately, both were away that weekend. The business reopened on 13 February 1941 at 89-91 Stokes Croft as a sweetshop and cafe, still run by a member of the Melhuish family and continued into the 1950s until its closure.

St. Peter's Hospital

This building was in Peter Street, between St Peter's Church and the Floating Harbour. It was destroyed by the blitz on 24 November 1940 and its history was as follows: 1402 - The original building was constructed by John Corne for the merchant Thomas Norton (an alchemist who lost a fortune trying to turn base metal into gold). It comprised of three bays with gables. 1580- Ownership passed to the Newton family. 1602 - Ownership passed to Robert Chalmers.

1607 - Ownership passed to Robert Aldworth, a wealthy merchant who introduced sugar refining to Bristol at these premises.

image above: St Peter's Hospital in Peter Street, where the Register Office occupied part of the ground floor. The building on the left is St Peter's Church, (c.1930)

1612 - Aldworth had the premises extensively altered and transformed into a fine Tudor building, and it became known as the Sugar House. At this time the frontage was altered to the part of the building facing St Peter's Church, not the Floating Harbour. The fourth (lower and smaller) bay was added, this originally being a separate house. None of the bays were identical, but Aldworth unified them with decorative facades. Each floor cantilevered forward over the one below, supported by ugly corbels. The sills of the generous bay windows were supported by carved brackets. Bargeboards and fascias were carved elaborately and beside and above each gable window were decorative plaster arches.

1634 - Ownership passed from Aldworth to his nephew, Giles Elbridge (who continued the sugar refining business). 1696 - The government of the time intimated that a mint could be established in Bristol if a fitting building could be provided. The Corporation obtained possession of these premises for this purpose and it was a mint for about eighteen months. Many millions of shillings and sixpences were coined.

1698 -The mint closed and the building was purchased by the Bristol Board of Guardians for £800 and converted to a workhouse, called The Purgatory. During this period the adjoining property (two bays with gables) was purchased from William Perm and this was used as a hospital for the sick poor for over a century.

1823 - The premises were still owned by the Board of Guardians, but its usage became administrative, though it also had a small bakery. In 1832 the workhouse was no longer needed - a larger workhouse having opened at Stapleton - and by 1890 it was used purely for administration.

image left: The back of St Peter's Hospital facing the Floating Harbour, with vehicle access via Back of Bridge Street, (c.1937)

1900 - The Register Office occupied part of the ground floor, but the main part of the premises was still occupied by the Board of Guardians. Following formation of the Public Assistance Committee in 1930, the Board of Guardians no longer existed and the former occupied the building. In 1937 the Public Assistance Committee became the Social Welfare Committee.

The approach to the building from Peter Street, with its ornate carvings on the exterior walls and small (approx 8in x 4in) leaded windows, was along a stone-flagged path. On each side of the path were tombstones of prominent citizens who had been buried over a period of many years. The rear of the building, which had vehicle access via double gates at the top of Back of Bridge Street, abutted the Floating Harbour. The basement of the building (which was at ground level at the back, with a courtyard area overlooking the Floating Harbour) contained a store for the old records built up over a period of some fifty years (all destroyed on 24 November 1940).

On the ground floor was the Register Office (situated in the corner nearest the path from Peter Street), waiting rooms, Collector's Department, Records Department, committee rooms and staff kitchen and lounge. The first floor was the hub of the Social Welfare Committee's activities containing the main offices, Old Court Room, New Board Room, waiting room and Chairman's room. The top floor was the caretaker's living accommodation.

image left: The back of St Peter's Hospital, which overlooked the Floating Harbour, with St Peter's Church behind. (1930)

Weddings at the Register Office were popular for two particular reasons: on leaving the building the footpath took the bride and groom past the main entrance to St Peter's Church, so it appeared as though they had had a church wedding! Also, junior staff who worked for the Social Welfare Committee were frequently called upon to act as a witness to a wedding — mainly for those couples who wanted to keep it in the dark from family and friends — for a fee of 2s or 2s 6d, a considerable amount in the 1930s.

People from all over the world visited this historic building to see the ornate carvings, the Old Court Room being a particular showpiece with

its gold leaf ceiling in square and quatrefoil compartments and the deep cornice with armorial shields supported by griffins. The room also had a huge fireplace with hand-carved surround and all the walls were oak panelled.

In the New Board Room (opened in 1901) the contrast was great - it was panelled in Austrian oak in Jacobean style, the frieze hand-carved with no two panels the same. The ceiling was coved, ribbed and panelled. The open fireplace had a dog grate, Norwegian green marble mantelpiece with Austrian oak mantel and over-mantel.

The waiting room (separating the Old Court Room and New Board Room) had a character of its own: one of the original rooms of the building, it had doors which did not hang true, a sloping floor and around the walls appeared some thirty plaques identifying dishonest 'civic' heads of the past (for example 'John of Bristol, an Alderman of the City, having been found guilty of defrauding the poor of the city was fined £5 for the benefit of the said poor').

In 1940 the Chairman of the Social Welfare Committee was Cllr S.C. Humphries, the Vice-Chairrnan Cllr G.G. Adams. The Superintendent Registrar at the Register Office was T.W.R. Ellis, his deputy J.G. Watson. The caretaker was Mr Hunt (whose monthly salary cheque was well-supplemented by tips from the many visitors to the building).

Sadly, the building was completely destroyed by the blitz of 24 November 1940 and was widely regarded as Bristol's greatest architectural loss of the war.

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