38-42 Bridge Street, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5AT

A short two-storey terrace block of approximately 1835, built on the north side of Bridge Street in Comber. The building is constructed in Scrabo sandstone and now comprises a public house and off-licence with modern shop fronts and a substantial modern extension to the rear of number 42.

The terrace originally comprised two separate properties. Numbers 38 to 40 were built as a single dwelling house, whilst number 42 was constructed as a police barracks, serving in that capacity until sometime between 1856 and 1861, when the police relocated to new premises in Mill Street. The property was subsequently converted to a dwelling house and later, in the early 20th century, to a public house. The ground floor of numbers 38 to 40 was converted to shop use sometime prior to 1970.

The front south-facing façade of number 38 features a central-right entrance door of six panels with panelled margins and a semicircular radial fanlight, framed by plain pilasters and an archivolt with keystone. To the left is a window with modern timber frame. The ground floor now contains a modern timber shop front in period style, with a recessed door to the right and a three-paned shop window. The first floor has four equally spaced windows. To the rear is a single-storey gabled return with eccentric pitch on the right side, recently altered. The rear façade originally had four first-floor windows, but the first and third are now blocked with breeze blocks, whilst the remaining two have modern frames.

Number 42 is arranged as a public house with a long painted timber shop sign roughly at centre front. The ground floor contains a modern shop front with four-paned window, painted timber panels below, and a semi-circular arched door opening within the shop front ensemble. To the far right is a matching modern window opening with five panes. The far left features a coach entrance with double timber doors and rendered surround with pilasters and keystone. The far right has a similar but narrower coach arch with timber door and glazed panel. The first floor has six equally spaced windows. The rear of number 42 is dominated by a flat-roofed, windowless rendered return that obscures the original rear façade. The east gable is blank but now carries a large modern billboard. The extension has three heavily barred window openings with modern timber frames. The east gable is blank but now sports a large modern billboard.

The entire terrace façade, excluding the returns, is faced in Scrabo sandstone. The roof is gabled to the east and hipped to the west, covered with Bangor Blue slates and featuring three potless chimney stacks—those to the east in Scrabo stone and that to the west in brick. Cast iron and PVC rainwater goods are present. An inscribed panel on the bridge to the east reads 'Erected A.D. 1843 Edward Porter Contracter'.

Historical records indicate that when Bridge Street was surveyed for valuation in 1834, houses at this end were exempt from tax. Annotations four years later mention newly built two-storey properties corresponding to this terrace. The terrace remained as private residential property and institutional use until commercial conversion in the 20th century.