Swan With Two Nicks

The Swan With Two Nicks is a house, later adapted as an inn, with an origin in the late 16th century, featuring an 18th-century facade and subsequent additions and alterations. The building has a timber frame and a painted brick facade with ashlar copings and sills, with the roof obscured. A cast-iron rainwaterhead and fallpipe are also present.

The exterior is three storeys high, with four windows on the first floor. The ground and first floors have flush sashes with 8-pane glazing, the first-floor windows having flat arches of rubbed brick. The second floor has flush sashes with 4-pane glazing, also with flat arches of rubbed brick, all with sills. The third opening on each of the first and second floors is blind. The building has a coped parapet. The off-centre right entrance has a 6-panel door in a renewed surround with a pediment supported by brackets. A further entrance, with a part-glazed door, is located to the right.

The interior ground floor has been altered, but retains exposed chamfered beams and purlins; a passageway to the left features rectangular framing. The first floor retains chamfered beams with ogee stops, exposed rafters, and exposed timber framing, some of which has been renewed.

The site is believed to be one of the oldest in New Street, with possible origins dating back to the 13th century, although the current building likely originated around 1550. In 1581, it was leased to Edward Elcox, a weaver, and by 1764, it was operating as a tavern. By 1771, it was divided into two tenancies, with one part known as The Swan. It was later named The Little Swan, and by 1830, became The Swan With Two Nicks. It was known as The Swan With Two Necks during the 1890s. The last landlady, Ma Watkins, brewed beer on the premises around the 1940s. New Street had previously been known as Glover Street by 1523. The building contributes to a group of listed buildings with numbers 25-30 and those in Cornmarket.