Reindeer Court

This is a shop and house with a stable to the rear, which later became an inn and is now shops. The building has origins in the mid-16th century, with significant later additions and alterations including rebuilding the front and rear block around 1686, further additions around 1700, and renovations during the 1980s.

The front facade is stuccoed over brick, with pinkish-brown brick used on the internal courtyard facades. The roof to the front part is concealed, while the rear ranges have plain tile roofs. The building is arranged in a U-shaped plan.

The exterior facing Mealcheapen Street is three storeys high, with five first-floor windows. The first and second floors have 6/6 sash windows in plain reveals with sills. An ovolo-moulded cornice is topped by a coped parapet. The ground floor has two shop fronts and a central carriage entrance. The shop fronts are similar in style, featuring pilasters and a continuous frieze with triglyphs and metopes, and guttae to the cornice. Plate-glass windows are present, alongside a 1/1 sash window to the right of the carriage arch. A panelled light with etched glass is within the arch to the left, and double part-glazed doors with flush beaded lower panels and a cambered light with radial glazing bars in a tooled surround are on the right. The rear ranges retain 6/6 and 8/8 sash windows, mainly with cambered heads, some in near-flush frames, otherwise with plain reveals.

The interior features a closed string staircase at the rear right, dating from the 1680s. It has a bulbous rod on vase balusters and a shaped handrail.

Historically, the land on which the building stands was sequestered from the Earl of Warwick, and in 1555 granted to the Corporation of the City of Worcester. In 1560, the property was rented to Thomas Tolly, a shoemaker. A stable was located behind the house, and is still extant though rebuilt. Hughes describes this as “an important and unique example of such a town stable.” The first reference to an inn occurred in 1653, when John Houghton and his wife Alice rebuilt the front and rear block around 1686, also repairing the stable. Further rebuilding and additions were made for the Swift family around 1700, along with later modifications. Mealcheapen Street thrived particularly in the 16th and early 17th centuries as a retail outlet; its prosperity stemmed from proximity to the Cornmarket, leading to the establishment of numerous inns.