The Gateway Tea Room

The Gateway Tea Room is a tea room with storage rooms above, likely originally a house, and possibly with a shop on the ground floor. It probably dates from the mid to late 17th century, with remodelling occurring in the 18th or 19th century. The building is constructed with a timber frame, likely light scantling, and is plastered, with a south-east front featuring joint lining to simulate ashlar. It has a slate roof with gabled ends and a hipped corner with a lead roll.

The original plan probably consisted of two rooms, with an unheated front room, possibly originally a shop, and a heated back room. The ground floor is now a single large room. The first and second floor plans remain unaltered, retaining an unheated front room and a heated rear room on each level. A stack is located in the rear (north-west) wall, and a newel stair is positioned on the left wall near the rear corner. The building is three storeys high, with a single window fronting The Square and a two-window return front facing Ford Street.

The front has a double-fronted shop with plate glass windows, a wooden cornice above, and a 19th-century glazed door at the centre; this represents the remains of a 19th-century shop front, which may have replaced an earlier one. There is a window on each floor above. The first-floor window has a cambered head and contains a 20th-century fixed light, probably replacing earlier sashes. A small 20th-century lavatory window is located under the eaves to the left. The right-hand return front to Ford Street has a continuation of the shop front fascia and an end window of the shop, with a 20th-century window in an earlier opening. The first and second floors both have two windows each, with 19th-century three-light casements, probably in earlier frames.

Inside, there is a timber newel stair on the left side wall. Each floor has a fireplace on the rear wall; the ground floor has a simple 18th-century chimney-piece with a moulded cornice mantel shelf. The first-floor fireplace has a 20th-century lintel, but alongside it is an 18th-century two-panel cupboard. The second-floor fireplace has a simple 19th-century chimney-piece with shaped brackets to the shelf. The ceiling retains rough beams and joists, probably originally ceiled. A truncated granite stack is found in the roof space. The roof structure has trenched principals for missing purlins, with the feet of the principals pegged to halved wall posts. A diagonal tie-beam is halved at the end and pegged to a hip rafter.

This late 17th-century town house is part of a pair of early town houses, which also includes numbers 1 and 5 Ford Street. The intact plan of the upper floors is particularly interesting. The building occupies a prominent central position and makes a valuable contribution to Moretonhampstead.