2-4 Leicester Road

Summary

House with shop units, C19 with later alterations.

Reasons for Designation

2-4 Leicester Road, Wigston, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* an example of a Victorian shop which retains a complete and well-composed shopfront, and internally, the counter separating the goods and customers, illustrating the historic mode of the shop’s operation prior to the widespread introduction of self service;
* a good-quality façade by a local builder as their base, which retains the iron screen advertising their trade.

Historic interest:

* the survival of a late-C19 shop with an intact frontage and internal fittings is increasingly rare, particularly for the modest business type, having been occupied by the same family grocer’s for three generations.

History

2-4 Leicester Road was built in the mid-to-late C19 by Thomas Brown, builder, whose name is inscribed on an iron screen above the carriageway entrance. The building was originally Brown’s home, and had a rear yard with workshops.

The left-hand section of the ground floor of the building was adapted in 1888 to form a shop unit, with a timber-framed and glazed frontage inserted. The proprietor was William James Cox, who was described in an 1889 directory as a potato salesman and, subsequently as a greengrocer and fruiterer. The shop remained in operation for three generations, before closing in 2022.

The lower shop unit on the opposite side of the carriageway has had various occupants, including M J Hassell, purveyor of prams, scooters and toys. This shop front and its interior have been modernised.

Details

House with shop units, C19 with later alterations.

MATERIALS: constructed from red brick laid in Flemish bond with limestone dressings. The roof is Swithland slate and has brick stacks.

PLAN: the building stands on the west side of Leicester Road. Its principal elevation faces east, and the main range occupies a roughly rectangular footprint, with outshuts and workshops to the rear (west).

EXTERIOR: a four-bay, two-storey building. On the ground floor are two shop fronts separated by a central carriageway opening. The carriageway has a pair of timber plank doors within a segmental archway with alternating dressed stone and gauged brick voussoirs, and a wrought iron screen bearing the text ‘THOMAS BROWN / BUILDER’. A doorway to the left, similarly detailed, has a half-glazed door with fielded panelling and a leaded overlight, and gives access to the shop.

The shopfront is a timber structure framed by pilasters with paired consoles supporting a moulded cornice, with a fascia painted to read: FRUITERER W H COX EST 1888. The glazed front has three large lights separated by timber mullions, with a transom shaped to form a Tudor-arched head to each light. Above each large light, mullions form three smaller lights with leaded glass with a central roundel. There is a low stall riser and a wrought iron railing.

The shopfront to the right of the carriageway has been modernised. The first floor has four window openings with moulded stone lintels. The two on the left retain paired sashes with arched heads. There are stone sill and impost bands, and a brick cornice with paired corbels. The roof is pitched and has a chimneystack at either end of the ridge.

INTERIOR: the single-cell shop unit of W H Cox was originally the parlour to dwelling, and was put into use as a shop in 1888. The room retains some original domestic features: the chimneybreast and moulded cornice, along with C19 and C20 shop fittings. There is a counter with fielded panels and pilasters with scroll consoles supporting a deep, timber countertop, and matchboarding to the dado. Shelving to the rear is said to date to the 1960s.

The shop unit on the right has modern fittings.

Sources

Websites
'Wigston's oldest shop has changed little in more than 130 years', Leiester Mercury, 4 February 2020, accessed 12/06/2023 from https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/wigstons-oldest-shop-changed-little-3808774
'Town's oldest shop closes after 134 years selling fruit and veg to generations of customers', Leicester Mercury, 15 February 2022, accessed 12/06/2023 from https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/towns-oldest-shop-closes-after-6655777
Photograph Archive (Leicester Road 2), Greater Wigston Historical Society, accessed 12/06/2023 from https://wigstonhistoricalsociety.co.uk/LEICESTER%20ROAD%202/
2 and 4, Leicester Road, Wigston (ref MLE25129), Leicestershire and Rutland HER, accessed 12/06/2023 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MLE25129&resourceID=1021
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, Appendix One: Buildings in Wigston and Kilby Bridge on the Local List, accessed 18/09/2023 from https://www.oadby-wigston.gov.uk/files/documents/locally_listed_buildings_review_appendix_one_wigston/LP9.07%20Locally%20Listed%20Buildings%20Review%20Appendix%20One%20Wigston.pdf

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