Features / Bristicles
9 historic doorstep mosaics in Bristol
Look carefully and reminders of bygone businesses can be found across Bristol.
One way to see whether a cafe was a former chemist or an estate agent was formerly a silversmiths is by a mosaic perhaps still in its doorstep advertising a long-forgotten shop.
Here are a few remaining doorstep mosaics:
is needed now More than ever
1. 108A Stokes Croft
This highly decorative piece adorns the front of what is now The Arts House. Previously in its place was a branch of Hodder & Co. Founded in 1846 on St Michael’s Hill, Hodder pioneered the ‘cash chemist’ idea and was the first chemist in the country to sell patent medicines at cut prices.
2. 74 Whiteladies Road, Clifton
A refurbishment in 2014 revealed the old signs of two shops, Punchards and Mackays. Either of which could have been the former silversmiths that once occupied the site, which is currently empty.
3. 7-9 High Street, Westbury-on-Trym
Outside what is a now a men’s wedding and formal wear shop, a large and ageing mosaic reads ‘Boot Store, Tobacconist & Confectionery’ along the pavement.
4. 121 Whiteladies Road, Clifton
Cawardine was a well-known Bristol coffee establishment, with cafes across the city throughout most of the 20th century. What goes around comes around, and the building has recently become The Colombian Company, a new cafe and shop.
5. 5 Chandos Road, Redland
Splendid restaurant and bar Otira occupies the site of a former butchers, Ford, whose logo looks suspiciously like the car company of the same name.
6. 85 Gloucester Road
Another former butchers, thanks to the fabulous Gloucester Road Story we know that Parsons occupied this shop from at least 1921 to 1950, before it became a model makers and its current occupiers, RePsycho.
7. 30 Cannon Street, Bedminster
A more modern style of mosaic at the entrance to a unit that in recent years has been a Harry Potter shop, a play cafe and Welcome Finance.
8. 25A Old Market Street, Old Market
No. 25A owner Chris Williams commissioned his own mosaic a couple of years ago, fitted by landlord Paul Bradburn and designed by his friend Alison Ogle. There are plans for a new mosaic to be fitted at their neighbouring premises, Barrika, later this year.
9. 108 Stokes Croft
Next door to the elaborate chemists’ mosaic, Cafe Kino designed their own by creating their logo with black and white ceramic pieces.
We also should not forget nearby 77 Stokes Croft:
Although not technically a mosaic, the name Masa + Mezcal is painted on top of the original tiling, paving the way for visitors to this recently opened Mexican restaurant and bar.
Read more: 14 photographs of Bristol businesses then and now
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