Zara (originally Boots the Chemist), 2-10 Pelham Street and 2 High Street, Nottingham: Research and Investigation
Author(s): K Morrison
The impressive store occupying the corner of Pelham Street and High Street in Nottingham, currently occupied by the fashion retailer Zara, was built by Boots the Chemist in 1902-05. As the company’s Central Depot – or flagship store in modern parlance – it superseded a smaller building erected at 2-10 Pelham Street in 1892. This predecessor was allegedly designed by Jesse Boot himself, though the architects were named on plans as Heazell & Son. The rebuilding of Boots’ Central Depot in 1902-05 was necessitated by the demolition of adjoining High Street buildings for street widening. The architect was Albert Nelson Bromley of Nottingham, who had undertaken commissions for Boots since the mid-1890s. The building has a fine art nouveau style shopfront, perhaps inspired by Harrods, and a glazed terracotta superstructure with a clock and cupola on the northwest corner. Part of the internal galleried light well of the 1892 store was retained, and several of its cast-iron columns and capitals can be still seen inside Zara. Otherwise, few internal features of the 1892 and 1902-05 stores have survived. After 1920 the premises were enlarged to the south following the demolition of an adjoining shop. The façade of the extension was executed in a style matching the 1902- 05 building, but the goods entrance and sanitary facilities were reconfigured. Boots vacated the site in 1972. It has subsequently passed through several hands and undergone internal alterations. Boots’ Pelham Street store is significant, not just as a particularly fine example of retail architecture in Nottingham, but as a key step in the development of one of the most successful national multiples in the United Kingdom. Pelham Street, perhaps more than any other Boots store, shows how the company introduced its working-class customers to a retail environment hitherto associated with the middle-class shopping experience. The listing status of the building was upgraded from Grade II to Grade II* in September 2018.
- Report Number:
- 73/2018
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 29
- Keywords:
- Standing Building Heritage Action Zone
