16-22 The Square, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5DU

A short terrace of two storeys, of possible mid-18th century origin, occupying most of the east side of The Square in Comber, with its return frontage facing onto Bridge Street to the left. The terrace now contains a public house at numbers 16–18 to the north end, and shops or offices at numbers 20 and 22 to the south.

The building is an unassuming gabled terrace finished in lined render and painted, with moulded in-and-out bevelled quoins to the wall edges and a shallow moulded plinth at the base of both the front façade and the north gable. The gabled roof is finished in Bangor Blue slate, and there are three rendered chimney stacks without pots — one to each gable and one positioned centrally.

The front (west) façade of numbers 16 and 18 has its main entrance slightly left of centre: a timber door with vertical sheeting and a plain narrow fanlight. To the left of this entrance is an enlarged fixed-light window. To the right of the door is a sash-and-case window, followed by a further door opening with a painted stone surround and narrow cornice, and then a further sash window of the same type. At first-floor level there are five unevenly spaced sash windows with horizontal glazing bars. A traditional-looking painted sign sits above the entrance and central window. The north gable has a centrally placed timber door at ground-floor level with a modern timber-framed window with top opener to either side. At eaves level there is a raised string course, and a raised verge course rises up the gable. A traditional projecting pub sign is fixed to this gable.

At the east side, the north gable merges with the north face of a lower return range running into Bridge Street. This return is occupied partly by the pub and partly by a small newsagent's shop. The newsagent's has a modern full-width aluminium shopfront, above which is a box housing for a roller shutter door, and above that a large painted shop sign. The return roof is gabled but finished in concrete pan tiles rather than slate. The rear of the main building was only visible from the adjoining property. What was once an open yard is now entirely covered by two single-storey lean-to extensions. At first-floor level the main building has one enlarged window opening with a modern frame and external steel security bars. The return has one enlarged window opening with a multi-pane steel frame and a small opening to the right that is now boarded over.

Number 20 has its entrance to the left, with a fifteen-pane glazed timber door. To the right is an enlarged window opening with a modern multi-pane bowed timber frame. Above this window is a large painted wooden shop sign, and above the sign are two multi-pane windows with top openers. The façade is finished in roughcast and painted. To the rear there is a small lean-to roof with a plain door to the left and a barred modern timber window to the right. The south face of this lean-to has a blocked window opening, and above it is a window that is partly blocked and partly barred. The roof of number 20 is finished in Bangor Blue slate.

The ground-floor front façade of number 22 is identical to that of number 20, but the first floor has only one centrally placed multi-pane window, and the shop sign is in PVC and appears to be internally illuminated. The façade is in painted roughcast with moulded in-and-out quoins to the south corner. The south gable is finished similarly but is otherwise blank, with the exception of one small off-centre second-floor window. A verge moulding runs up the gable as on the others, and there are moulded and bevelled quoins to the west edge. A gutter extends from front to back at eaves level. To the rear there is a small flat-roofed porch, with two blocked windows — one at ground-floor level to the left and one at first-floor level in the centre. Cast iron rainwater goods are used across the entire front of the terrace, though some sections to the rear have been replaced in PVC.

The site has a well-documented history. It is shown as occupied on a 1722 map of Comber. David Geddas's 1801 survey of properties out of lease shows a terrace whose plan and recorded dimensions match those of the present building, at that time in the possession of a Richard Stitt Junior. The 1834 valuation returns note that the block was of considerable age — perhaps more than 50 years old at that time, for which it was graded C+ — and that it then contained a shop and house in the possession of William Murphy, with two further houses held by William Davey and William McKeag. McKeag appears in Slater's directories of 1846 and 1856 as a carpenter, and Murphy in the 1856 edition as a spirit and porter dealer, suggesting that what is now number 16 was operating as a public house at least by that date. Both Murphy and McKeag were still recorded as resident in the 1861 valuation, and William Murphy, or his son, was still running the public house in 1870. Murphy also appears to have worked as a blacksmith: his property is recorded as containing a forge — undoubtedly at the rear — in 1861, and he is listed as a blacksmith in 1870. The house at the south end of the terrace appears at this period to have served as the residence for the master of the neighbouring school, which stood just to the south, was erected in 1813, and was demolished around 1950.

Photographic evidence dating from around 1900 to 1910 shows that the public house had by then adopted the name the Gillespie Arms, comprising the present numbers 16 and 18, and was in the hands of a Mr Kerr. The two houses to the south appear at this time to have still been in domestic use, though the southernmost may have had some commercial function as it is shown with a signboard. Around 1976, these two southern houses were converted to commercial premises and large bowed windows were inserted at the front of each.