National Westminster Bank

The National Westminster Bank is a two-storey building featuring half-timbered close studded elevations. It has three bays facing Great Oak Street and China Street, with one bay splayed across the corner. The building sits on a rubble plinth and has a steep slate roof with wide eaves. Red brick chimney stacks and Tudor-style lead guttering and downpipes, which are initialled NPB, add to its character. There are finials over the hipped corner and splayed projections at the centre of both sides. The splayed bay on the main front is full height and incorporates the main entrance, while the splayed bay on the China Street side features a bracketed oriel. The narrow casement windows of various widths have leaded lights. The main entrance is camber arched with panelled double doors. A bank sign is located on the corner, accompanied by decorative ironwork. There is also a low segmental headed doorway on the right side of the China Street front, which has a 9-panelled part glazed door with a carved timber tympanum that intertwines the date with foliage. Narrow brick strips at either end indicate that the gable ends are not half-timbered.

Inside, the ground floor boasts massive stop-chamfered beams framed in both directions. The walls are post and muntin panelled up to a dentil cornice at three-quarters height, featuring various plaster ornamentation above and on the ceiling. There is a panelled counter front with strapwork on the pilasters, and a chamfered pier in the middle of the office area is accessed through a doorway with panelled pilasters and reveals, along with balusters leading to half-glazed inner doors. The separate flat accommodation above is said to retain similar details.