The house used to be owned by a Corn Merchant called John Bailey, it is thought he replicated his Country House in the centre of the town, he owned the land all around the property and brought grain up the river, perhaps for Paines Brewery or the Flour Mill in St Mary’s Street, the house has also been a small private school, a Bank (which went bankrupt) the local museum have a bank note from that time, it was a convalescent home for soldiers following WW1, there is a photo on the wall in the dining room from then, it then became a Doctors surgery and the operations were performed in the house to the rear where there is still a carved ‘Surgery’ plaque on the wall.
St Neots used to be in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most public houses along from the Great North Road to the Centre, there is still a pub run called Crown to Town which starts at the Crown Pub at Eaton Socon, a pint to be drunk in each pub on the way into town.
The town also has a vibrant live music scene within local pubs and during the summer, from May, live music in the Riverside park every Sunday afternoon. Directly across the road from Merchant House is a Waitrose, the train station is a 20 minute walk from the house and it’s 45 minutes directly to Kings Cross, the bus to central Cambridge is across the road from the house. Bedford is 13 miles and of course also has the prestigious Bedford School, obviously the town is also 5 minutes from the A1.
Currently there is a £15M renovation scheme for the Market Square which started in January, it will offer piazza style café’s and seating and will be a beautiful addition when completed.