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Pearces Pemises

The buildings include a three story Georgian fronted building on the High Street and a narrow double storied and older building to the rear. The older building dated from the 17th Century and initially consisted of a number of independent units each with a door to the small yard at the back of what used to be the Aureole surgery. When Pearces moved to the building, the building at the rear was used as a garage and storage for the residences although the 1st floor hayloft door indicates an earlier agricultural use. Changes introduced as a result of linkage to the hardware shop include the internal interlinking of these units and the provision of stairs for access to the second story. There are indications that access to the second floor was initially by ladder as would have been appropriate for agricultural storage. There has also been internal division into some offices and the addition of plumbing and sewerage. The letters I.W. are picked out in flint on the gable end facing the Hightown Praetorian flats.


The Georgian building facing the High Street has a brick dated 1792 although the internal structure indicates that it is possibly the Georgian re-facing of an even earlier structure. Early photographs indicate that the left hand window was probably always a shop and that the right hand window was initially a residence facing the High Street. Access to the upper stories was originally from stairs and a passage leading from the front door to the present shop. Successive alteration over the years has left a single shop of some 140m2 (1500 Square feet) on the ground floor. The retail space is not regular and is complicated by remaining structural pillars. The central passage and staircase have been removed and access to the upper stories is from the rear. The final alteration in 1984 was a flat roofed extension to the shop at the rear which, while important to the viability of the business, is architecturally insensitive.


The accommodation above the shop is derelict and has been unoccupied since around 1974. A new roof was put on the building in the 1960's so the premises is dry, secure and alarmed although not habitable. It is absurd that the crass tenancy law of the period forced landlords to leave accommodation vacant The current owners of the building look forward to the sympathetic restoration of the accomodation which retains many original features. 

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