The Rummer, with attached cellar steps, railings and gate

The Rummer, with Attached Cellar Steps, Railings and Gate

A public house and former hotel, built in 1740–1741 by John Wood the Elder. The building incorporates the western ends of earlier dwellings at 39 and 40 High Street.

The structure is constructed in stone masonry, rendered, with limestone dressings, a slate roof and brick chimneystacks. It stands on the corner of All Saints Lane and the glass arcade of St Nicholas's Market, facing west and south, with an irregular, roughly L-shaped footprint. The main range is oriented north–south and is two storeys with an attic and basement. The east wing is two storeys with a basement.

On the south elevation, a symmetrical composition is evident on the upper floor, which has three windows and a pediment above. Ground-floor alterations have left a single window on the left and a recessed doorway with a plate glass overlight. Windows are one-over-one sashes within moulded stone architraves. A flight of steps descends to the basement, surrounded by wrought iron railings and a gate.

The west elevation is also symmetrical, with five bays, the central three of which project slightly forward. A central doorway has a moulded timber architrave with fluted consoles and a pediment, containing a pair of double doors with two fielded panels. The window treatment varies and may correspond with 19th-century redevelopment: some are within plain stone surrounds, others in timber frames or plain openings. Ground-floor windows are one-over-one sashes; first-floor windows are six-over-six. The north-west corner is canted and has a 19th-century door with decorative scroll corbels supporting a plain stone lintel. A wide, multiple-light window with consoles and moulded lintel, also dating from the 19th century, stands nearby.

The interiors have undergone alteration and reconfiguration. The ground-floor main range is largely open plan, retaining an elliptical arched opening with fluted pilasters. The stair, in its original position to the east, is an open well with a closed string, turned balusters and a moulded, ramped rail, stylistically typical of the early 18th century. A panelled dado with large fields under heavy moulding continues to the second floor. Some panelled window shutters survive, and a fluted surround frames the 19th-century north-west doorway and window. In the rear wing, formerly part of 39 and 40 High Street, the historic party wall between the two houses survives, though it has an inserted doorway. A large limestone chimneypiece with mouldings including a Tudor rose suggests a date between 1560 and 1603.

On the first floor of the main range, cornices appear to date from the late 19th century, and most joinery from the 20th century. Some repositioned 17th-century panelling stands on the east wall. In the east wing, historic partitions survive more completely, though an opening has been inserted through a former stud wall, revealing a substantial reused timber. The northern wall features a 16th-century limestone chimneypiece with an arched opening with spandrel mouldings. 16th-century oak linenfold panelling lines two walls; on the southern wall it is approximately two-thirds complete. Elsewhere, mismatched alignments and differences in detailing suggest it has been assembled from at least two other rooms.

The second floor has been reconfigured but retains historic features: a small fireplace dating from the original construction with a simple limestone chimneypiece and cast iron gate; a built-in, two-panelled cupboard in the room now used as a kitchen; and a reused 17th-century five-panelled oak door in the room leading to the terrace.

The basement to the main range is an arched, vaulted construction in rubble stone, now painted.