81, High Street

No. 81 High Street is a house that has been converted into shops with a flat above. It was built in 1833, as noted on the rainwater head, for the Ware Gas Light and Coke Company. The ground floor was rebuilt in 1954. The building is constructed of yellow stock brick and has a Welsh slated roof, featuring two brick chimneys with square terracotta pots. It is two storeys high and has three first-floor sash windows with glazing bars set in reveals beneath flat arches. The ground floor showcases a Neo-Georgian shopfront with entablatures and a central pediment above Doric pilasters that frame a recessed entrance. This entrance has twin leaded glazed doors topped by a semicircular fanlight with radiating glazing bars and a moulded archivolt. The site was previously home to The Checker Inn, which was first recorded in 1509. The 19th-century rebuilding includes some reused timber, as seen in a moulded beam that serves as a purlin in the roof of the rear outshoot.