Old almshouse

Image: © Neil Owen Taken: 17 Feb 2012

The Guild of Merchant Tailors was granted a charter by Richard II in 1399; a Bristol section bought these premises in 1575, and some of the tenements were in turn used as an almshouse by 1604. Records show there were few inhabitants at that time and the buildings were in need of repair and so work was carried out to renew them in the early eighteenth century, providing housing for nine people. However, the Guild's last member died in 1824 and the property later passed into the hands of the local corporation, who used it as a weights and measures office until 1955. From then the building was home to Lloyds bank up to 1990. It was at this time that the former Co-op department store was demolished and the new Galleries shopping mall built. The plans allowed the almshouse to be kept (the exterior was extensively refurbished) but is now surrounded by the retail structure. In 1992 it re-opened as a public house - appropriately The Almshouse - but is now Azuza. See Image] for a closer look at the rooflines.

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