By John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter: Jolly’s new occupants say the store will be restored to its “former glory” — but there will be a year’s wait for the store to reopen while the council carries out multi-million pound repairs to its roof.
The historic store on Milsom Street was closed by the Frasers Group last month — but now department store chain Morleys has announced it will be reopening the store, and keeping its name and previous store manager. Morleys chief executive Allan Winstanley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Jolly’s will be returned back to its former glory as a premium end branded department store.”
But the store will be closed for about a year first while essential restorative works are carried out on its roof by Bath and North East Somerset Council, which owns the building and is the store’s landlord. Asked what the work would cost the council, the council cabinet member for resources Mark Elliott said: “We honestly don’t know yet. It will be millions of pounds. We honestly don’t have a price yet.”
The storefronts of Jolly’s stretch for about 50 metres along Milsom Street and the shop runs all the way through the buildings to John Street, with a complicated maze of old pitched roofs, modern flat roofs, and glass roofs at various levels connecting the two. Mr Elliott said that most of the council’s spending would be on the roof, while interior work such as the new fit out will be largely covered by Morleys.
The building is expected to be handed over to Morleys in February 2026, ready for an initial opening of part of the building in March 2026. Morleys plans to have a dedicated “heritage space” within Jolly’s to showcase the store’s history and the plans for its future throughout the renovation, with a grand opening planned in October 2026.
Council leader Kevin Guy said: “Milsom Street has always been a very special shopping destination and Morleys Stores is a fantastic fit for the area. Morleys’ decision complements the investment the council is making in the Milsom Quarter.”
The announcement that Morleys would be taking the shop came just weeks after Frasers closed the store, but the council said it had been in talks with Morleys for 18 months about taking on the store. Mr Guy told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We have been working very hard because we knew House of Fraser was struggling.”
Morleys was founded in 1927. It has seven other department stores in London and in Newbury. Despite the difficult economic climate for the high street, Mr Winstanley said: “We trade well.” He said: “We are a community based store chain. We are not reliant too much online; its a smaller part of our business. We are actually a bricks and mortar classic retailer but we are very customer focussed and we are very service focussed as well. We provide high service which our brand partners appreciate.”
James Jolly founded his drapery store in Kent in 1811 and opened his first store in Bath in 1823. Since then, the department store has become Bath’s most iconic shopping destination. It had been a House of Fraser since 1971, who closed the branch in February this year.
Under Morleys, Jolly’s will offer a “carefully curated selection” of fashion, beauty, and homeware to attract shoppers from Bath and beyond. The store will have a “full service” beauty experience and Morleys says it will introduce “exclusive names never before seen in Bath.”
Jess Merritt-John, the store’s former manager who is staying to run it under Morleys, said that former staff were keen to return to the store. She said: “I have got a queue of people who are desperate to come back.”
She added: “I think they feel very passionate about it being the best department store it could possibly be.”
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