Oddfellows Hall, The Former Assheton Arms

The Oddfellows Hall, formerly the Assheton Arms, is a building dating from 1855. It comprises a former public house and shops, with a meeting hall above. The building is constructed of brick with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. It has three bays by seven bays, arranged over three storeys. Rusticated quoins are present, along with a bracketed eaves cornice with articulating dies. A keystone arch shelters the central entrance, flanked by two shop fronts; the left a 19th-century original, the right a replacement. A niche forms a central feature on the first floor. Four-pane sash windows with eared architraves, a sill band, and date stones above are found on either side of the façade. The top floor has taller sash windows with segmental heads, ashlar surrounds, and a moulded sill band. The Booth Street elevation mirrors this design, with four-pane sash windows set under segmental brick arches on the ground floor and two elaborate doorways, one featuring pilasters and a dentilled entablature, the other a fanlight and keystone arch. The building has a hipped roof. Much of the interior has suffered damage through alteration or decay, although the entire top floor now accommodates the meeting hall, featuring a coved plaster ceiling and niches in the walls.