191, Halesowen Road

This is a late 19th-century butcher's shop and associated premises. Constructed of Flemish bond brick with a gabled slate roof, the building features a shop at the front, living quarters to the rear and on the first floor, and animal pens, a fasting pen, and a slaughterhouse to the rear. The road front has a canted bay window to the left, incorporating stained glass panels above depicting busts of a pig, cow, and sheep within roundels. A shop door is situated to the right, with a fanlight grille above. Decorative brick piers are positioned on either side of the facade; one intact and one fragmentary. Decorative tilework is present below the bay window, reading “GILL” to the front and “258” at the angles. There is a fascia board above the window, originally featuring a curved gas pipe, now adapted for electric light, and three spigots to support a game rack, accompanied by a projecting decorative board. A two-light sash window is on the first floor, with a central brick pier, a painted band at sill level and a painted lintel. Decorative eaves boards and ridge tiles are also present. A chimney stack with decorative topwork stands on the left gable. The left hand reveal features a blocked shop door. The rear wing projects to the left. In the rear yard, outhouses include an animal pen with a hay loft, a fasting shed with a pulley system to the roof, and a slaughter shed incorporating a pulley and wall rail.

The interior of the shop retains a complete set of original wall tiles, including a turquoise and white frieze at the top of the walls, octagonal white tiles with black diamond insets below, a coloured dado frieze depicting cattle drinking and grazing interspersed with profile heads of sheep, cows and pigs, and Ionic pilasters with amber-bordered panels. The tiling has been replicated on a filled-in former shop door. Tiered brass rails are positioned behind the shop window for hanging meat cuts, along with a brass rail with upswept ends at the rear and two painted metal rails on the left side. A horseshoe-shaped metal rail suspended from the ceiling incorporates two hooks on wheels for moving carcasses around the shop.

The building offers a remarkably complete impression of a late Victorian butcher's premises, with the original tilework, metalwork, and outbuildings largely intact. Its survival is considered rare, particularly in such a complete state, representing a once-common type of building along British high streets. The adjacent property is not considered to be of special interest.