The Shires Restaurant and Free House

The Shires Restaurant and Free House is a restaurant and former free house, originally built as a Rectory in 1810. It is constructed of coursed rubble stone with quoins and stone dressings, topped with a twin-span hipped roof of Collyweston slate and stone end stacks. A stone cornice band runs along the building, and wide eaves extend with wooden brackets. The building faces right, featuring two and a half storeys with three 6/6 sash windows. Three 2-light dormers are positioned above. A central, flat-roofed porch has painted Tuscan columns on the front corners and a pilaster behind, with a glazed door and overlight. Canted bays with 4/4 : 6/6 : 4/4 sash windows flank the porch on the ground floor. Single-story extensions with hipped Collyweston slate roofs are located on either end; the right extension has a parapet. On the right extension is a 6/6 sash window with a lunette above, and on the left a French window with a lunette above. The left side of this section includes two 20th-century bow windows, and a 20th-century single-story wing extends to the rear. The building was formerly Stretton Rectory, and is documented in White’s Leicestershire and Rutland directory of 1877.