“This set of three shops cascading down to Smith Street were built in the 1880s on what had been the site of the Freemason Hotel’s stables. From 1880, and for over 100 years, No. 243 was a wineshop; from 1910 it was in the Watson family. No. 245 was a tobacconist / hairdresser from the 1880s until well into the 1980s. Currently No. 243 and 245 are combined as a restaurant. No. 247 was a tobacconist until 1890. Since then it has been a dental surgery.” (Gertrude Street, Jill Robertson, p.79)