Wills' Tobacco Factory

The building is a tobacco factory, constructed in the mid-1940s but based on an earlier design. It is built of red brick and Portland stone, with a flat roof concealed behind parapets. The architectural style is dignified Art Deco. The main south front is three storeys high and comprises 23 bays, arranged in three sections: a projecting three-bay centre, two-bay ends, and a central eight-bay section. A balustraded perron leads to a wide flight of steps, which ascend to a terrace in front of the entrance. Quadrant retaining walls flanking the perron hold shrubberies and are constructed of ashlar with banded copings, featuring panelled piers. The entrance has a double-glazed door set within a fully-glazed section, framed by stout round piers that support a flat hood with quadrant angles. Side lights are positioned outside the piers. The entrance is within a porch, with fluted detailing at the top and quadrant corners, projecting from a tall central tower. The tower features a fluted frieze and a top that is stepped back in three stages; the middle stage is fluted, and the lower stage bears the inscription “WDE H O WILLS” in sans-serif lettering. A recessed section of the tower contains a tall, four-light horizontal paned window beneath an egg-and-dart carved lintel with an acanthus keystone. Above this window is a clock, stopped at noon. The ashlar tower and porch are flanked by lower brick staircase towers, each featuring a long two-light window and matching top treatment, although with only one step back. The penultimate bays are lower, blank ashlar towers with shallow, tall recessed panels, adorned with bands of fluting at the heads. The intermediate sections have three tiers of four-light metal-framed windows, held by ashlar piers set back in two places on the sides, with the ground floor piers being higher. Bands of uninterrupted brickwork with stone edging strips run above and below the bands of windows. The set-back outer bays are similar but with two-light windows. The returns, 17 bays in width, are identical but lack a central section; the outer towers on these returns have doors under flat hoods and long stair windows above. Attached to the brickwork are names of products, likely added later and capable of being illuminated at night. A half-glazed porch addition on the left return is not considered to be of special interest.