22 Main Street, Beith

This property comprises two late 18th and early 19th century buildings united by later shopfronts, and now under single ownership since 2003.

No. 22 is a narrow, two-bay dwelling dating to the late 18th century, with an earlier 19th century shopfront featuring pilasters and an entablature. The front has a door to the left and a large window to the right, with two small windows on the first floor. The ground floor is faced with painted ashlar, while the first floor features painted render with raised and painted margins and a moulded eaves course.

No. 24 dates to the early 19th century and has an earlier 19th century three-bay shopfront. It features a central door flanked by large openings, one of which has been reduced in size. A dentilled cornice sits between the ground and first floors, with three windows on the first floor. There is also an eaves cornice. The ground floor is painted ashlar, and the first floor is painted, lined render.

The first-floor windows are timber sash and case, with four panes in No. 22 and plate glass with four panes to the right of No. 24. The slate roof has been replaced with non-traditional concrete tiles; the roof of No. 22 has a steeper rake than No. 24, indicating its earlier date. A scrolled skewput is visible on No. 22, alongside an ashlar chimney stack. Cast-iron rainwater goods are also present. A thackstane – a stone used with thatched roofs – projects from the base of the chimney stack at No. 24, suggesting both buildings were originally thatched.

The interior is a later 20th century café.

Historically, from the post-war period until 1999, the premises housed a chip shop and ice cream parlour run by Mario Dora. The buildings contribute to the character of Main Street, with their mix of vernacular details and later classical shopfronts. Main Street, which is located in the heart of Beith, is likely of mid-18th century origin; its narrow, winding form affords little space for pavements and the buildings abut the road. They differ in scale, purpose, and design from the later, grander buildings of Eglinton Street. The property is marked on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, and further information and old photographs can be found in Donald Reid’s “Old Beith” (2000).