Former Holme Head Coffee Tavern and Reading Room is a Grade II listed building in the Cumberland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 11 April 1994. Coffee tavern, reading room. 1 related planning application.

Former Holme Head Coffee Tavern and Reading Room

WRENN ID
dim-chamber-burdock
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Cumberland
Constituency
Carlisle MP: Ms Julie Minns (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
11 April 1994
Type
Coffee tavern, reading room
Address
Former Holme Head Coffee Tavern and Reading Room, North Street, CA2 5LN
OS grid reference
NY 397 545
Coordinates
54.88236, -2.94019
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Former Holme Head Coffee Tavern and Reading Room is a 2-storey octagonal building constructed in 1881 for Ferguson Bros by George Dale Oliver. It was designed as a reading room and coffee tavern for local workers and is now used as a meeting room. The building features English garden wall bond brickwork set on a chamfered plinth, with all dressings made of calciferous sandstone. It has a decorative band of red tiles and a sill band, topped with a hipped red tile roof that includes decorative half-timbered gables and a scrolled finial. Tall red brick chimney stacks rise from the rear.

On the corner, there are 20th-century double doors framed by a moulded brick segmental arch, indicating where a wooden porch has been removed. Each side of the building has paired sash windows on two levels, with some featuring glazing bars and 19th-century coloured glass, all set under shaped lintels and in brick reveals. The interior has not been inspected. The building is connected to the terrace housing on North Street by a single-bay link. A post box is integrated into one of the walls. According to the Carlisle Journal from 1882, the building opened in January of that year, and original plans can be found in the Cumbria County Record Office. North Street was originally named Morley Street when it was laid out in the 1850s.

Local climate

Former Holme Head Coffee Tavern and Reading Room sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,100 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 87% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 80% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 51 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 93% of listed buildings. Of these, 27 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
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  • Related listed building consents — 1 application
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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  4. The Mill at Holme Head Works Grade II 185 m
  5. Currock House Community Centre Grade II 411 m
  6. Church of St James Grade II 557 m
  7. Monument to Daniel Clark and Associated Railings Grade II 593 m
  8. No 4 Gasholder, Carlisle Gas Works Grade II 624 m
  9. Carlisle Cemetery Chapel Grade II 635 m
  10. No 153 and Carlisle Cemetery Office Grade II 666 m