Central Tea Rooms, 49-51 Main Street, Ballyclare, Co Antrim, BT39 9AA

Central Tea Rooms is a two-storey two-bay building on Main Street in Ballyclare, dating from around 1830. It comprises a principal structure built as a shop with dwelling above, along with an attached former "Central Dining Rooms" building to the south and associated outbuildings to the rear.

The principal building, originally early 1800s, has been substantially modernised on the ground floor with commercial fitments that have compromised its original layout and character.

The attached Central Dining Rooms building, built circa 1830, is rectangular on plan with a two-storey return and further single-storey extension to the rear. The pitched and slated roofs are supported on corbelled brackets to the eaves, with larger brackets supporting lucarnes. A single brick chimney to the west end is surmounted by masonry coping and a replacement pot. Walls are pebble-dashed with rendered quoins and window surrounds.

The principal north-facing elevation contains two bays. The ground floor has been commercially fitted out with modern shop fronts to left and right and a central entrance with replacement timber door and rectangular fanlight. Each bay above ground floor contains two square-headed windows to the first floor, each surrounded by smooth rendered banding, hood moulding with carved keystone and corbelled moulded stop, and set on a Scotia moulded base on the cill course. Above these, gable-ended lucarnes with fretted timber bargeboards and half-dropped circle motifs are placed centrally over each bay, each containing a window with masonry cill supported on brackets. Between the second floor windows is rendered banding embossed "Central Dining Rooms". First floor windows to the second floor are square-headed in round-arched-headed surrounds with keystone and pilaster. The rear elevation windows are plain square-headed.

The west elevation is abutted by 53 Main Street. The south elevation features a single-storey flat-roofed extension to the right and a two-storey return to the left, with the exposed section in rough cast containing two windows and a stairwell window. The return has three small windows to the first floor showing evidence of previous larger windows. Adjoining the return is a single-storey extension with blocked window and door openings. The east elevation is abutted by 47 Main Street.

A three-bay two-storey outbuilding to the rear of the yard has pitched and slated roofing with walls of random rubble, brick surrounds and voussoirs around openings. The yard is enclosed to the west by random rubble and brick walling surmounted by blockwork, and to the east by random rubble walling with rendered sections.

The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 as part of the terrace forming Main Street. Originally configured as a shop at ground floor with dwelling above, the structure is accessed directly from the street. Current walling is pebbledash and windows are uPVC casement with replacement ogee profile guttering.

The building is not listed as being of special architectural or historic interest.