Until well into the 1800s, shops were few and far between and often little more than converted front rooms of houses. In the last quarter of the 18th century, Church Street was mainly residential. There was a grocer's shop where Compton House was later built and, on the opposite side, a confectioner's shop at the corner of Church Alley. One of the houses was converted into a tavern, and the site where the first Athenaeum was established was an orchard or garden with a fishpond which in winter was sometimes used for skating. St Peter's Church, from which Church Street took its name, is depicted in the centre of the plan. Blue Coat School is visible at the end of Church Alley, just to the left of St Peter's. In Church Street, next to St. Peter's Churchyard, 'The Dominion of Fancy' theatre was enlarged to provide almost 1,000 seats, changing its name firstly to 'Pantheon' and later to the 'Liver Theatre'.