The Old Brewery

The Old Brewery is a late 18th-century hotel, later converted to offices. It has 19th-century alterations and additions. The building is constructed of pinkish-orange brick with ashlar dressings and a Welsh slate roof. The layout is based around a central hallway. It is three storeys high and has three bays, with a plinth. The central entrance features a four-panel double door with an oblong fanlight above, flanked by four-pane sash windows and pilasters beneath a Tuscan portico with a frieze and cornice. A 20th-century wrought-iron emblem of Samuel Smith’s brewery sits atop the portico. The outer bays have full-height, canted bays; those on the ground and first floors have a 16-pane centre sash with 12-pane sashes to the sides. The first floor central bay has a 12-pane sash within a flush wood architrave. The second floor has 8-pane sashes between 6-pane sashes within the canted bays, with a 6-pane sash in a flush wood architrave to the centre bay. All windows are set within flat arches of gauged brick and have continuous cill bands. A double dentil cornice runs along the top, and there are end stacks. Inside, an 18th-century open-well staircase has turned balusters and a ramped handrail. A ground floor room to the left features an elaborate 19th-century cornice with acanthus, swags, and egg-and-dart moulding, plus a floriate band around the ceiling and a central oval panel decorated with musical instruments, urns, fruits, and floriate scrolls. It also has a window surround of fluted Corinthian pilasters supporting a frieze decorated with acanthus and anthemion motifs. The room to the right has a less elaborate 19th-century frieze with acanthus ornament and similar moulding around a window, now partly obscured by double glazing.