26-28 St John Street

▪ Grade II listed timber framed building

▪ Known as the Gingerbread Shop

▪ It is late 15th century proven by dendrochronology

▪ Restored in the late 20th century

▪ Was the Roe-Buck Inn in the 18th century

▪ It has been a baker’s/confectioner’s since c1803

▪ It was H. T. Spencer’s for about 80 years

Numbers 26-28 are on the south side of the street opposite to Millennium Square.

The Building

This Grade II listed building is late 15^th century (confirmed by dendrochronology of the timbers), probably originally built as a speculative commercial development of three shops with accommodation on the first floor.

The first floor is jettied which means that it projects beyond the dimensions ofthe ground floor. The building was restored in the late 20^th century. There is a rear wing which dates from the 18^th and 19^thcenturies.

The building has undergone significant alterations having been combined into a single unit. The first-floor 6x6 sash windows are 18^th century and the rendering has been changed through time. The earliest photograph (see below left) shows it fully rendered with block incisions but a later photograph (see below right) shows faketimbering (still retained next door at 30 St John St). Only after the late 20^thcentury restoration were the oak timber frame (studding) with wattle and daubinfill panels revealed (see top).

The original sub-division of the property remains visible in the surviving fabric with evidence for partition walls (see roof beam in photograph below top), and the closed roof trusses. On the partition wall with 30 St John St, a small part of the wattle has been exposed behind glass (see photograph below upper left).

To the right there is a doorway which leads to a yard and the rear wing. In the 1881 and 1901 censuses this wasr eferred to as French’s Yard and Spencer’s Yard respectively with Thomas French and Henry T. Spencer being the respective occupant of 26-28 St John St at this time. Two or three households in the yard were listed in these censuses.

The History of its Occupation and Use

In Land Tax records, it seems Nos. 26-28 and 30 were grouped together and they may have constituted a single property for occupation and use up until c1830.

It was an inn named The Roe-Buck from the middle of the eighteen century and the earliest owner and occupier is identified as George Etches. Land Tax records from 1780 indicate he continued to be involved as occupier until 1786 and as owner until 1795. However, newspaperadvertisements show that he was letting out the premises from 1777 and that the landlord was John Fletcher in 1781 (see below).

John Fletcher married Mary Etches, whose relationship to George is not clear, in 1763. Mrs/Widow Fletcher is listed as the owner 1796-1802 with a series of tenants after George Etches passed away in 1794. The last mention of the Roe-Buck Inn found is from 1802.

According to Land Tax records, in 1803, the owner became Thomas Tomlinson, who was a baker and corn dealer. It is from the time of being a bakery that the building became known as the Gingerbread Shop. Legend has it that a French PoW from the Napoleonic Wars gave the recipe for gingerbread to the baker.

Thomas Tomlinson passed away in 1818 but his wife continued until 1821. John Bass, whose occupation is given as confectioner or corn dealer in the commercial directories and census records, then took over until about 1860. From 1842, John Bass had another role as registrar.

In the 1860s the bakery/confectionary was being run by the Chaplains/Chaplins, William and John, and then Messrs. Smith and Co.

From c1840-67, the premises of 26-28 were probably shared between the baker’s and a butcher’s, run by William Tomlinson. In 1867, William Tomlinson’s business failed and 26-28 and 30 were put up for sale by auction (see below).

Five year later, in 1872, the properties were on the market again with the same seller (Edwin Bradley) although two rather than three “dwelling-houses and shops” are listed. While Mr. John Gregory remained at No. 30, the baker/confectioner at 26-28(?) has changed from Messrs. Smith and Co. to Thomas French and it is thought Thomas French probably expanded and leased the former shop of William Tomlinson.

Thomas French ran his confectionary business for almost 30 years until it was taken over by Henry Tomlinson Spencer in 1887.

Henry Tomlinson Spencer retired in 1938 after which Stephen Pearson became sole proprietor, however, the name H.T. Spencer continued to be associated with the Gingerbread Shop until at least the 1960s.

It appears the shop expanded to include 30 St John St after Elizabeth Gregory, who had been running her boot and shoe shop there, passed away in 1938. Advertisements from the 1950s give the shop’s address as 26-30 St John St (see example above).

The Pearsons would remain involved with the Gingerbread Shop until Bird’s took over the shop around 2000.

© PaulThompson 2025