William Stevens ran the new building as a wine and spirit business. Collectors of Bristol bottles still turn up his stoneware flagons, stamped with his name and the address 51 Broad Street, and they are the most direct link we have to the bar in its first years.
In 1884 Stevens’s licence came before the magistrates. It was at that hearing that his solicitor described the house as more than two hundred years old, and reminded the bench of the £3,000 his client had spent rebuilding it.
The Best Brand Company
From 1887 the business traded as the Best Brand Company. It did not last. The buyer went bankrupt, and in 1893 the property was put up for auction at the Grand Hotel, a few doors up the street.
Café Restaurant d’Italie
By October 1893 No. 51 had become the Café Restaurant d’Italie. Little is known about it yet, and we would welcome anything that turns up in directories, newspapers or family papers.
Morris and Co.
From about 1906 until at least 1920 the wine merchants Morris and Co. traded from the building, with a lease that ran until 1927. Their flagons and bottles also survive.