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168 Bath Road (formerly 2 Clare Cottages)
A coffee tavern sounds rather Dickensian but there was such a place here at the turn of the 20th century. The proprietor was Mr John Moulder and coffee was served here until about 1903. Several years earlier, in 1892, Mr Moulder had erected this shop at the front of his house, when he was a plasterer and plumber. It had caused a dispute with his next door neighbour at 1 Clare Cottages who objected to “the loss of air and light” to his front room.
Mr Stewart, occupation unknown, resided here until 1907 and then the premises may have been unoccupied for a couple of years.
In 1909, Miss Elizabeth Roylance, the daughter of draper James Roylance started her own business here as a milliner and mantle maker. (A mantle was a sleeveless cloak first used in the fifteenth century). Her father’s business was in the High Street where he sold fine hosiery, bonnets and haberdashery. It is quite likely that Elizabeth learnt her trade from her father. In December 1909, Elizabeth married to William South and by the start of the War, she had given up the shop. It then became the home of something very different from the delicate items that Elizabeth made and sold!
Mr Charles James Lord and his wife, Ethel ran a motor cycle business here until the middle of the 1920s when it changed trades yet again.
