May and Bretts and Hairdressers

These shops, formerly houses, date from the early 19th century and are located on the east side of Great Dunmow High Street. The building is two storeys high and constructed with a timber frame and plaster. It has a slate gabled roof and an end wall of painted brick, featuring a tall ridge stack at the north end. The first floor has three double-hung sash windows with small panes and moulded surrounds, and one sash window with single vertical glazing bars. Number 21 and 23 have an unremarkable 19th-century shopfront. Number 25 has an early 19th-century doorcase featuring fluted Grecian Doric half columns, with attic bases, supporting a large block entablature with a frieze panel and three Maltese cross inserts. A canted bay window adjoins the doorcase, with arch-topped mullions and a single transom above eye level. The interior of Number 25 contains an early 19th-century staircase and arched overdoors. A gabled red brick block, likely former stables, is attached to the rear on White Street. This block has five semi-circular arched openings above a door opening, two of which are combined into a wider opening. Three good early 19th-century six-panel doors with raised and fielded panels are also present.