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150 Bath Road (formerly 5 – 7 Thirlestaine Place)

In 1881 the northern (left) end in this row of shops was occupied by George Henry Sykes, a master baker, together with his wife Sophia, their sons Frederick and Charles and daughter Annie. George was born in Loughborough in 1832. In due course both of the sons became assistant bakers, helping their father in the family business. George died in 1886 and Sophia in 1900, by which time she was assisted just by Frederick and had relocated to Regent Street.

​In 1899 Thomas Coole, formerly the landlord of the King William Inn, bought the business from Fred Sykes and also traded as a baker and grocer. Thomas was born in Cirencester in about 1854, moving to Cheltenham after his marriage in 1880. He stayed at these premises for 21 years, until he retired, and died in June 1934 at the age of 80.

Mr Joseph Cecil Wilson and his wife Edith continued the bakery trade here during the 1920s, when the address was 13 Upper Bath Road. The street directories suggest that the Wilsons also used the adjacent property, 15 Upper Bath Road, which was set back from the road. Then Mrs Edith John – no relation to the butcher two doors away – took over the bakery for a very short time, until in 1926 the premises at 13 and 15 Upper Bath Road, together with the shop fittings, were sold.

By 1931 the address had changed again to 150 Bath Road and the shop, together with the neighbouring corner plot was owned by the Thirlestaine Garage. The following year they let the shop as offices for the coal merchants William H Bennett, who were here until about 1933. Then came Blake & Co. (Outfitters), specialising in butcher’s outfits.

1948

In October 1937 the shop, the adjoining garage, nine lock ups for motor cars and the neighbouring house at 1 Clare Street were all sold for £1,800. The business continued as Thirlestaine Garage and the shop was used for the sale of oil and other motoring accessories. But eventually this building was demolished to allow the new owners to make improvements.

The Coal Yard

At the start of the 20th century there was a corner site here belonging to the coal merchant Alfred Grimes Stockwell. Cheltenham-born Alfred, his wife Mary Ann and their children lived at No 1 Clare Street, a small house next to the coal yard. By the time their daughter Ethel married in 1914 the family had moved to a much larger house called ‘Broadclyst’ in Leckhampton Road. In about 1925, when Alfred was around 70 years old, the coal yard was taken over by the London & Bath Coal Exchange.

1950

At the start of the 1930s the coal yard closed and by 1931 the site had become a garage and filling station called the Thirlestaine Garage. The premises boasted four electric pumps and had nine brick lock-ups. A large sign on the wall read R.O.P. – 11½d per gallon. R.O.P. stood for Russian Oil Products. As the notice remained there for several years, presumably the price did not change! The garage continued under various owners, the longest being the Rawlins family, until it closed in March 1996.

Thirlestaine Service Station in about 1970 (photo courtesy of The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum)

After lying empty for almost twenty months, a tool hire firm from Tewkesbury, J P Tool Hire, took on the office premises as a shop, using the old forecourt as a customer parking area. They were here until about 2002 and in 2003 the site was redeveloped for ​The Natural Grocery Store.

The Natural Grocery Store

For more information click here.

Possibly the last photograph to be taken before the redevelopment of this corner site in 2003

Researcher: Marilyn West
Update: Stuart Manton (March 2017)

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