Homes and Gardens / Features
Inside the shop and house that is a historic time capsule
Tara Potter wipes a tear from her eye as she walks into a room that only a few weeks ago had items piled high almost from floor to ceiling.
Since her father Brian died, she has spent most of her time clearing out the five-storey property which has been owned by her family for more than 50 years and which she has been visiting since she was a young child.
“I hope he’s laughing at me right now,” Tara says. “He used to keep the door closed most of the time as he didn’t like to talk to many people!”
is needed now More than ever
The rear of 60 Colston Street from its garden
The steps down to the basement
A top-floor room at 60 Colston Street
This early-18th century Grade II listed building on Colston Street was a butchers before becoming Potters antiques shop, with the rooms upstairs due to become a family home decades ago before plans were changed following a divorce.
The entire building, which features a secluded walled garden to the rear, is being sold at auction on November 17 by Maggs & Allen, with a guide price of £325,000.
60 Colston Street as seen from the balcony of Zero Degrees
Inside the basement
A mysterious door which opens onto the staircase
Brian Potter used all of the rooms as storage, with his daughter Tara now needing to sell everything
Tara has found numerous keys but does not which opens what
Tara’s mum Jo previously rented 60 Colston Street off the man who had run it as a butchers in the mid-60s. She took it over and bought it in the late 60s.
Brian previously owned a shop on Park Row, Potters Antiques. Part of the divorce settlement between Brian and Jo was Brian buying the shop and he worked here until he died in January.
Climbing the stairs up to the top floors, Tara looks around her. “It’s a real wrench. I am really sad to be parting with the place.
“Since I was a kid I have always come here and it’s a real community spirit around here. Everyone pops into to everyone else’s shops. It has a really lovely feel to it.
“I’m hoping that it will be somebody of a similar ilk. Somebody who has a trade and wants to live above their business. That would be the perfect outcome.”
A metal bracket near the shop counter is where the butcher used to hang the meat
A marble worktop in the window is where the meat used to be displayed when this shop was a butchers
A rummage in the 20p coin lucky dip has long been part of the “Potter experience”
Royal memorabilia has sold well since the death of Queen Elizabeth
One of the upstairs rooms that Tars has cleared
Tara and her mum and dad were planning to live above the shop before her parents got divorced
The narrow building is split over five storeys
Fireplaces are dotted throughout the rooms
There is even a walk-in wardrobe
A room with a view
“When I was a kid and came here, I used to have to sit quietly and I wasn’t allowed touch anything,” recalls Tara, who lives in Weston-super-Mare.
“But I did form a love of antiques and old things. And you appreciate old things, especially when you are handling the coins.
“I just start to imagine the type of people who bought things with them. I have even got Roman coins here. My dad would tell me the stories behind the coins.
“As a dad, he was absolutely brilliant. So kind, so gentle, really lovely and generous to a fault. He almost fooled me into thinking he was Peter Pan and would live forever.”
All photos: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Bristol’s medieval parish boundary markers hidden in plain sight
- This one small road used to have almost 40 pubs
- The UK’s oldest war memorial could be in Bristol
- These are Bristol’s 12 most expensive roads
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