130 High Street

A corner-site building with a narrow, rectangular plan, constructed in stock brick with white artificial stone cladding on the north and west elevations and a slate roof.

The ground floor features a modern 20th-century glazed shop front wrapping around the west elevation and partially around the north elevation. Above this, the original facia and cornice survive. The first and second storeys are articulated by an arcade of tall semi-circular arched windows: eight bays on the north elevation and three bays on the west elevation. Each window is framed by columns with foliate capitals and features a wide transom with foliate and scroll motifs at the second floor level. The arched heads are decorated with egg and dart mouldings, and the spandrels carry foliate and scroll motifs. The first-floor windows beneath the transom are square metal-framed openings with six lights, while the second-floor windows occupy the upper part of the arch with arched heads, also containing six lights.

A heavy Italianate cornice with modillions crowns this arcade. On the west elevation, a Flemish gable with a pediment decorated with scrollwork rises above the cornice. The gable's centre contains a large square window with heavy mullions and a flat projecting head, flanked by smaller windows with arched pediments supported by engaged columns. A cherub figure is attached at the top of the gable.

The north-west corner is canted and features pairs of slender engaged columns at the angles with a string course at the second floor. At the first floor, three window openings are flanked by columns with foliate capitals supporting heavily moulded segmental pediments with central shell motifs. The second-floor windows are similarly treated but with splayed pediments, flat heads, and projecting sills supported by gargoyles. A domed pavilion topped with a stone finial surmounts this corner, subdivided by pilasters with decorative cappings between arched windows with moulded surrounds and foliated spandrels, a plain frieze, and dentil course above. Three gabled roof dormers punctuate the north elevation.

The rear east elevation is faced in plain stock brick without decorative treatment. It contains large arched windows, an entrance door with bracketed hood, and overhanging eaves with a dentil cornice. A metal fire escape stair has been attached at the south-east corner, and a square brick tower addition accommodating the lift shaft stands at the north-eastern corner.

The ground and first floors are used for retail and have been refurbished with late 20th-century shop fittings, including false ceilings that conceal original moulded cornices and columns with crocket capitals. A modern staircase with an escalator occupies the centre of the shop between ground and first floors. An original dog-leg staircase with carved balusters is located on the south side, with walls in the stairwell faced in hardwood panelling.

The second and third floors serve as warehouse storage with columns featuring ionic capitals and moulded cornices. Modern studwork partitions and doors have been inserted to reconfigure the internal space. The top floor contains staff facilities and offices. The staff room features a barrel-vaulted roof with decorative plaster ribs and ceiling mouldings, with walls lined in hardwood panelling. Panelling has been removed in the pavilion, exposing the brickwork. A lift tower at the north-eastern corner is no longer in use.