Whitbread'S Stables

Whitbread's Stables, dating to 1897, is a substantial brick building located on Garrett Street in Islington. The stables were erected for Whitbread & Co. Ltd., as indicated by a cartouche above the first-floor windows. They are constructed of yellow brick in English bond, with dressings of blue and red brick, composition stone, and possibly terracotta, and have a parapet that conceals the roof.

The building is three storeys high, with a twenty-one-window range. A carriage entrance with flat arches is located beneath the eighth and ninth windows from the east, featuring wooden gates with long iron hinges, likely original. All windows have segmental arches with heads of gauged red brick, linked by four courses of red brick in a decorative band. The ground floor features four windows of conventional height to the left of the entrance, with the outer one partially blocked. A smaller window is located further to the left, with a composition stone sill and a terracotta apron. The remaining windows on the Garrett Street front, and those on the second floor, are similarly designed, with the second-floor windows being blank.

A ramp leads to two storeys east of the entrance, the upper flight supported by wrought-iron beams and featuring a late 20th-century roof. West of the entrance, the block mirrors the detailing of the Garrett Street front. A single-storey farrier’s shop, under a lean-to roof, abuts the south side of the ramp and is likely a later addition.

The interior is characterized by three stalls, a harness and tack room, all glazed, which open directly onto the yard from the west block. Otherwise, the three storeys of the west block and the narrower east block, in front of the ramp, consist mainly of long rooms with roofs supported by two rows of cast-iron columns. The ground and first floors have horse stalls within the bays between the columns. The stall fittings are 20th century replacements; the third floor contains no fittings.