26 And 27, Bear Street

26 and 27 Bear Street is a shop, house, and business premises that were originally built as seed and wool stores for W & J Hutchings in the late 19th century. The building is constructed of cream-coloured brick with stone dressings and features slated roofs adorned with crested red ridge-tiles and a finial. There are matching brick chimneys on each side wall of the front range, both topped with decorated pots.

The layout includes a house at the front with a central cart entrance on the ground floor, which leads to a long narrow courtyard at the back surrounded by warehouses and offices on all three sides. A shop has been added to the right-hand side of the frontage. The building stands two storeys high with a garret and has a three-bay front. Brick pilasters flank and separate the bays.

The left-hand bay features a dormer gable at the top and has two-light windows with curved stone lintels on both the ground and second storeys, separated by a stone column with a carved capital. The narrower middle bay contains the cart entrance, which has a segmental brick arch and a keystone carved with a ram's head; it also has double plank doors with open panels of wrought-iron scrollwork at the top. Above this, there is a window with a segmental brick arch and keystone in the upper storey. The right-hand bay has a doorway with a segmental brick arch and keystone to the left, and a 20th-century shop window to the right. In the upper storey, there are three windows with segmental brick arches and keystones. Above the middle and right-hand bays, a stone cornice and brick parapet are present, supported by brackets that resemble machicolations.

The buildings surrounding the courtyard maintain a similar character and appear to be in their original state. At the far end of the left-hand side, there is a building with large sliding wooden doors on the ground floor and an upper storey fronted with wooden louvres. This property is a remarkably complete example of combined dwelling and commercial premises from the late 19th century.