Former Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society factory ('The Scotch Stores'), SOUTH END 'FACTORY EXTENSIONS', Sligo Road, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, BT74 7JY

Former Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society factory complex ('The Scotch Stores'), South End Factory Extensions

This is an important part of the former Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society's premises in Enniskillen, occupying a long site on the west side of Sligo Road and east of Old Henry Street, on the southwest edge of the town. The buildings run roughly north to south, curving in line with the roads, and form an irregular complex of mainly two-storey late Victorian rubble-built structures with an integral manager's house, large Jacobean gables, and an overall 'Highland lodge' feel.

The complex is believed to have been built in 1893 to designs by Thomas Elliot for processing livestock, though the varying sheer length, differing roof heights, and levels of detailing suggest that some portions may have been added a few years later. The buildings are constructed in squared rock-faced limestone with smooth dressings and quoins, typical of well-mannered late Victorian industrial architecture.

The complex runs in plan form from north to south as follows. At the northern end stands the manager's house, known as 'Thistle Bank House', now a private residence. To its south the house merges with a much larger block that once contained offices but is now filled with shops, with a large portion to the east used as a meeting place for a local church. This merges southward with a large, plainer, lower-proportioned block that probably housed most of the factory proper and is now occupied by shops, a snooker hall, and other commercial units. To the south of this is a long narrow block, possibly originally warehouses, slightly taller and more ornate than the section to its immediate north. This contains shops alongside a bingo hall and restaurant. At the very south end, the complex has been extended in more recent years (possibly around the 1970s) with the addition of plain flat-roofed sections also filled with shops. To the west of the main building, the ground level rises, making much of the block single-storey on this side.

To the west of the building lies a long narrow enclosed yard containing a long gabled outbuilding. This outbuilding is two-storey to its east side but single-storey to the west. Like the main complex, it is constructed in squared rubble with a slated gabled roof and cream-brown brick dressings to many openings. To the north and south gables are further gabled projections: a small single-storey projection to the south and a much larger two-storey one to the north. Adjacent to the south gable stands a tall square battered chimney stack of dark brown brick, indicating that the outbuilding once housed a boiler or boiling house.

The east elevation of the outbuilding features four timber-sheeted doorways of varying sizes, the leftmost being the largest. The two central doorways are similar in proportion with windows and fanlights above. To the far left are two high-level windows, with a former window to the immediate right of the first doorway now blocked. To the far right is a further window with a modern frame. At the right-hand end, where the façade is set back and fully two-storey, there is a broad timber-sheeted opening to the ground floor with a small single-storey lean-to beside it (having a four-pane window to its north face and timber-sheeted door to the east). To the first floor of this set-back portion are three relatively large segmental-headed windows, all with modern frames. The west façade, which is mainly single-storey, features a relatively uniform series of brick-dressed window openings with mostly modern frames and two timber-sheeted pedestrian doors. A small central portion of this façade is rendered. The north gable of the outbuilding is blank. The slated gabled roof is divided into three sections, the central section having a slightly steeper pitch with a ventilator to the ridge.

Extending from the southwest corner of the outbuilding are relatively plain wrought-iron railings set into a low bevelled base, culminating to the south in a pointed stone gate pillar with makeshift-looking gates of corrugated iron. A further gateway with taller similar gates lies to the immediate north of the outbuilding.

The chimney is a tall rectangular tapering brick construction attached to the southern gable of the outbuilding.

The complex originally operated as a creamery and livestock processing facility with associated offices and a manager's house. It survived in this use until the mid to later 1970s, after which much of it was converted to shop units. The extensions to the south end may have been added at that time or possibly in the 1960s. Since the later 1970s, the complex has been occupied mainly by shop and workshop units of various sizes, and many window openings have been enlarged in the process. The entire complex has undergone considerable alteration in recent years in terms of window and door openings and the application of modern signage, particularly evident on the east façade fronting the busy Sligo Road. Despite these changes, the building remains of considerable industrial archaeological interest and retains its distinctive character as an important late Victorian commercial and industrial landmark in Enniskillen.