2 North Parade Passage

A town house dating to 1718, possibly with earlier origins, altered in 1727 for Ralph Allen and attributed to John Wood the Elder. The building was further altered in the late 18th and 19th centuries, and underwent restoration in 1986 when a new shop front was inserted.

The external walls are constructed of limestone ashlar. The rear slope is covered in pantile, while a large ashlar stack to the right has been heightened in brick with pots. The building has a double-depth plan internally, with two levels of accommodation.

The front elevation facing North Parade Passage comprises three bays and forms an architectural unit with 1 North Parade Passage (Grade II) to create a five-bay composition. This elevation has a basement (beneath the Acorn Restaurant), ground floor, first floor, second floor, and attic floor, with further roof accommodation concealed behind the parapet. A rusticated giant pilaster marks the right side, with a first floor plat-band, cornice above the second floor, and parapet. The ground floor contains a plain recessed entrance with a panelled door and the late 1980s pastiche shop front to its right. The first and second floors each have three sash windows with nine over nine panes and dropped sills. The attic floor windows are sash with six over six panes.

The three-bay rear elevation facing the adjacent Ralph Allen Town House (Grade I) has four storeys including a basement. The rusticated ground floor contains three plate glass sash windows with dropped keystone heads. The two floors above both have three sash windows (some later replacements) with nine over nine panes and dropped sills. Those to the second floor have decorative architrave surrounds and floating cornices, with the central window featuring a pediment. The second floor is marked by garland swags beneath each sash window. A deep Classical cornice wraps around the east corner but terminates before the west corner, suggesting the building was originally attached to the Ralph Allen Town House, as confirmed by scarred stonework and historic Ordnance Survey maps.

The restaurant occupies the ground floor, accessed via North Parade Passage. The front shop contains a large chamfered ceiling beam. A rear room features fielded panelling and a late 20th-century matching fireplace, though the original fireplace with its 19th-century grate remains stored in the restaurant's food vaults. Stairs with stick balusters and swept rail in the corner lead down to the basement, which provides further seating, toilets, and kitchen facilities.

The living accommodation above the shop is entered via a door to the left and functions as a short-term holiday let. It contains 18th-century stairs with stick balusters, turned at the corners with swept handrail. The front room at first floor level retains early 18th-century fielded panelling to ceiling height, with single rectangular panels above and below the dado rail. A fireplace with marble surround is complemented by window shutters and seats; restoration of these shutters in 2012 revealed that the building had been re-fronted with stone ashlar.

The room directly above contains re-used 17th-century panelling to ceiling height, principally oak with some pine elements, brought here from elsewhere possibly from within the house. It incorporates an integrated 18th-century fireplace with cast iron grate.

The kitchen at mezzanine level to the rear contains a large plain fireplace with a 19th-century cast iron range by J.A. Bladwell & Co of Bath. The bedroom above the kitchen has an 18th-century fireplace with built-in grate. From the landing outside, part of the rear roof over 1 North Parade Passage is accessible and now used for storage; these roof timbers have been mostly replaced in the 20th century, though parts of the walls retain lime plaster.

The front bedroom on the attic floor contains a fireplace with stone ashlar surround holding a late 19th-century grate. The bathroom and toilets on this floor extend over the attached 1 North Parade Passage.

The roof to the front, hidden behind the parapet, is in use as a further bedroom and contains partially exposed roof timbers reported to be re-used.