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2 Suffolk Road (formerly 1 Northwick Terrace)Although this house is now in residential occupation, for the greater part of its history it served commercial purposes.
One of the earliest traders was William Hale, a baker, who was released from Gloucester prison in 1841, having been incarcerated there as an insolvent debtor. His creditors gathered along the street at the Suffolk Arms on 4th June that year to decide how his estate should be sold to pay his debts. The humiliation and hurt Mr Hale suffered must have been considerable. Presumably the shop had been fitted out with ovens and the various other fixtures and fittings of a bakery, as it remained in the same trade and by 1851 Richard Tyler, a baker, confectioner and pastry cook was here. He was surely related to the Tylers who ran a bakery at 16 Suffolk parade and he remained here until at least 1871. In his advertisement of 1865 (below) he refers to his clientele, which included some of the nobility and gentry of Cheltenham who had moved here early in the 19th century, when the town was a rapidly growing health resort. Later that year he sadly lost his baby daughter Amy Gertrude, who died aged just 3 weeks. More happily, his eldest daughter Mary Eliza was married about 2 years later to a confectioner from Falmouth called William George. 
Cheltenham Looker-On, 1865
 Cheltenham Chronicle, 1865
In addition to bread and pastries Mr Tyler also sold some groceries, including tea. In 1865 The Himalaya Tea Company of London was able to promote its tea at a lower price due to the Government reducing the import duty, which must have been a very popular policy. Interestingly, tea was also sold by chemists shops at this time for its health-giving properties. By 1868 Mr Tyler was including "near the College" in his advertisements, indicating the importance of the school to businesses in this part of town and as a landmark.
In 1875 the trader here was Hobbs & Son and now they were selling Horniman's tea, which in 1851 had been the first tea producer to package the product individually, at a time when tea was bought loose from a grocer. Also in 1875 the premises were taken over by a baker and confectioner called Edwin Gorton, who relocated from 40 Montpellier Villas and remained here until about 1888.
This trend continued when in 1897 Benjamin Sims, another bread & biscuit maker, confectioner, flour dealer & public caterer took over the business. He was the son of John Sims, the baker at 16 & 17 Suffolk Parade and part of a baking dynasty. Benjamin had been married in 1884 and lived for a while at 19 Montpellier Villas with his wife Maria Ellen and her mother. By 1904 he had fallen on hard times, having been obliged to give up the business, and was separated from Maria. In about 1908 this shop was taken over by Mr William Augustus Rolfe, a baker & pastry cook, who moved from here just before WWI to 170 Bath Road, now the Post Office (see more here). Benjamin Sims lodged with Mr & Mrs Rolfe for many years until his death in 1934 aged 77, whilst travelling on the top deck of the evening bus from Painswick to Cheltenham, and his funeral was held at Emmanuel church, attended by many local traders and friends. 1 Northwick Terrace came up for sale in 1915 and it was described as having a good dry cellar that had been used as a bakehouse, with two ovens and fittings. In 1917 there came a complete change of use, when a dairyman named Cornelius Fry bought the house and shop for £450 and the link to baking ceased. Mr Fry had previously worked at Prestbury Farm Dairy in Leckhampton. By 1922 he was bankrupt and living in Andover Street and died in 1924, aged 57. In 1926 there was another change of trade when Gilbert S. Bevan turned the shop into a grocers. This became a greengrocers in 1934, belonging to Mr George Smith, but the fittings were sold off in 1942, suggesting that the shop was no longer trading. For further information about the Tyler and Sims families please see here. Researcher: Stuart Manton (Dec 2020)
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