8 And 9, Margaret'S Buildings

Two terrace houses, now shops, dating to the late 18th century, with a shopfront designed in 1890 and 20th-century alterations. The shops were originally built with limestone ashlar facades, and have a roof which is not visible, with moulded stacks to the left party walls. The buildings have double-depth plans.

The front of No. 8 has a two-window arrangement, a low coped parapet, and a stopped cornice. The second floor has six/six-pane sash windows. The first floor has painted splayed reveals to former six/six-pane sashes, the upper sashes now fixed, and the lower sashes blocked by a rich modillion cornice with an ornamented architrave, supported at the sides by panelled Corinthian pilasters featuring lion masks in circular central panels. Double-glazed doors with an ornamented head, and a large overlight, are set back beneath this shopfront, which was designed by William Wilcox, County Surveyor for Somerset, in 1890. No. 9 has a one-window range and a 20th-century roof. It has painted reveals, splayed to the first floor, with horned plate glass tripartite windows; the second-floor window has a 20th-century balconette. A timber bressumer is obscured by a pedimented Tuscan doorcase and a 20th-century door to the left, and a 20th-century shop window with repositioned 19th-century turned colonnettes.

The shop interior retains its original ceiling height and features mahogany grocers’ cabinets with counters, a timber balustraded gallery above, and a frieze reading ‘High Class Provisions’, with corkscrew uprights supporting shelves. The lobby floor has a white mosaic inset with the name ‘Cater, Stoffel and Fortt’ and their branch addresses in Bath, all in brass letters.

Originally an outlet for the grocers Cater, Stoffel and Fortt, the shop retains retail features of interest.