Former Butcher'S Shop

Former butcher's shop of the late 19th or early 20th century, constructed in brick with a modern replacement roof covering.

The building occupies a corner site on Princes Avenue with a secondary frontage onto Thoresby Street. The shop front runs around both corners, with doors at either end providing access to the shop itself. A recessed doorway to the right of the Princes Avenue entrance leads to the accommodation above.

The first floor has a canted bay window in timber with sliding sashes facing Princes Avenue, accompanied by a vertical sliding sash window to its right. No first floor windows face Thoresby Street. The eaves are enclosed with shaped timber brackets. Three modern dormer windows have been inserted into the roof, two of which overlook Princes Avenue.

The shop front is detailed with a relatively simple moulded cornice that extends across the doorway to the upstairs accommodation. This cornice is supported by moulded consoles resting on piers of green glazed bricks. The stall risers incorporate cream coloured tiled panels: the Princes Avenue panel displays the painted tile sign "FAMILY BUTCHERS" with letters on separate tiles, flanked by detailed painted tile pictures of a ram's head to the left and a bull's head to the right. The Thoresby Street panel has a central painted tile picture of a pig's head. Each animal portrait is monochrome in dark green and finely detailed, formed from four tiles arranged in a diamond pattern. The shop windows above are both 4 over 4 fixed lights. At the top of the Princes Avenue window is a honeycomb pattern ventilation grill now behind glass, whilst the other window has a shorter, more decorative ventilation grill. Both shop doors have panelled lower sections and are mostly glazed. The fanlight above the Princes Avenue door is a modern stained glass insertion, as is the stained glass door to the upstairs accommodation, though the multicoloured decorative tilework at dado level within the recessed doorway reveal is original.

The interior of the shop features an elaborate and comprehensive decorative tilework scheme. At dado level runs a broad band incorporating turquoise, brown and buff tiles with both moulded and flat examples. Below this are broad panels of embossed buff coloured tiles framed with white and mauve tiles. Above the dado, the walls are covered with a diamond chequerboard pattern of alternating cream and buff square tiles, interrupted by framed paintings with moulded green tile frames and painted tile compositions. These paintings are of exceptionally high quality, detailed and appearing as traditional watercolours. The Princes Avenue side wall contains three such paintings: a countryside scene with cows painted on 5 by 5 tiles, flanked by two smaller 2 by 2 tile portraits of a bull to the left and ram to the right. The rear wall facing Thoresby Street has two large 5 by 5 tile paintings—a river scene to the left and a corn harvest scene to the right—with a sixth 2 by 2 tile portrait of a pig positioned beside the shop door onto Thoresby Street. At cornice level are four bands of tiles including a band of decorative brown moulded tiles.

A curving metal rail suspended from the ceiling originally extended from the cold store at the back of the shop, running around the perimeter and forming a loop away from the rear wall (probably marking the original location of the cash desk) before returning to the cold store. This rail was originally used for displaying carcasses.

The floor is finished in a chequerboard pattern of red and buff tiles. The remainder of the building was not inspected.

Ordnance Survey mapping shows the area as open fields in 1888, fully developed by 1910. It is unknown whether the building was constructed as a butcher's shop or later converted to one, nor when it ceased operation as such.