32-36 Willow Street

32-36 Willow Street is a house built in the late 16th century or early 17th century, which was later converted into commercial premises and underwent extensive alterations in the late 19th century and 20th century.

The front elevation facing south is made of painted brickwork and features a timber and glazed shopfront that conceals a timber frame structure inside. The roof is covered with slate. The building has an L-shaped plan, with a main rectangular front range facing Willow Street to the south and a rear wing extending north along the eastern plot boundary. A later 20th-century extension partially fills the return, and another single-storey 20th-century extension is offset to the north of the rear wing.

The building stands two storeys tall with four bays facing Willow Street under a pitched roof. The principal south elevation is symmetrically arranged. The ground-floor shopfront spans all four bays and includes a central recessed entrance flanked by two pairs of large plate-glass shop windows, along with a timber fascia board across the entire front. Each bay is bordered by a pair of fluted pilasters, and there is a low brick base beneath each window. The entrance features a late 20th-century door within a late 19th or early 20th-century surround, complete with a rectangular overlight. An awning, which is retracted into the shopfront, is attached to the pilasters with metal poles. The first floor is notably low and contains four 20th-century timber casements situated directly below a timber fascia board.

Inside, the building reveals areas of exposed timber framing, including chamfered ceiling beams in the ground-floor rooms with straight-cut stops and joists, as well as square panelling on the cross walls upstairs. In front of the main entrance, there is a large inglenook fireplace featuring a chamfered bressumer and a 19th-century cast iron range. The roof is believed to be constructed in four bays, with cambered tie beams at the east gable end.