Henry Bates’ Cottage is one of Earlsdon’s oldest buildings — the third to be built in Earlsdon Street — and is now occupied by Kendall’s Delicatessen. Henry Bates, who had the house built in 1852, was the son of a Kenilworth gardener. He attended Fairfax Charity School and was apprenticed to John Howe, a silk dyer. He married a ribbon weaver and settled in Spon Street before buying plot 151 on the newly laid out Earlsdon Street for £25 8s 8d, taking out a mortgage of £100 to build his house.
It was a double-fronted cottage with a neat front garden: parlour, kitchen and two bedrooms, modestly but comfortably furnished. Sadly Henry died in 1859 and his widow remained in the cottage until her death in 1870. An auction of contents was held on 20 March 1871, including a mahogany Pembroke table, six mahogany chairs, a couch, a tent bedstead with white dimity hangings, carpets, engravings, a handsome case of preserved birds, and a dulcimer. The house sold to William Thompson for £130.
Thompson let it to a succession of tenants over the years. By 1907 it was bought by James Buckingham, a baker, who built extensive bakehouses at the rear and two houses next door, with number 56 becoming Earlsdon Post Office. Buckingham converted part of the ground floor into a bakery and tiny café. The building was later a dress shop, then a self-contained flat. It was recently restored and now serves as both a delicatessen and a café once again — a satisfying return to something like its original domestic character.