When commercial buildings in the town of Beverley are sold, the local community fear the further erosion of the unique character of its historic centre by large retail chains, betting shops and low cost bars.
Situated on this picturesque, historic street and with fabulous views of both St Mary’s Church and the Beverley Minster, 15 North Bar Within is one of Beverley’s finest buildings. Built in the 18th Century and primarily a town house for the Boynton family, it is one of the oldest historic buildings in Beverley – comprising four stories of fabulous architecture as well as an exceptional vaulted cellar.
For many years John Carmichael retailed fine jewellery at 15 North Bar Within, until retiring and passing on the business to Hugh Rice. In 2012 Hugh relocated – putting the building up for sale and resulting in concern by local residents that it may fall into the hands of a pub chain or betting office and damage the historical look and feel of the town centre.
To the relief of the local community, the building has bought and sympathetically refurbished by Andrew & Rogers Optometrists, formerly of 68 Saturday Market Beverley, who have a reputation for retailing high quality eye wear, contact lenses and professional eye care services including colourimeter testing for dyslexia.
“We have worked very hard to retain the buildings historic features and develop it into our showpiece optical practice – the building is perfect for us to continue the expansion of our practice.” says Andrew Scott of Andrew & Rogers. “Not only have we utilised the ground floor to display our eyewear, but the building also allows for a further 12 consulting rooms upstairs as we continue to expand the business in the future. We are currently offering the rooms to private doctors and other medical practitioners to allow them to develop their own practices in our beautiful building”
Andrew and Rogers Optometrists was established in Beverley almost 15 years ago – and with an ever increasing register of repeat clients, it’s no surprise to see them move into larger premises.
“With the expansion of our services into the treatment of dyslexia, our designer frame and sunglasses range and a growing contact lens client base, we had basically outgrown the space at 68 Market Street. As a result of our expansion and new premises, we are able to increase our stock level by 50% and offer our clients a huge range of frames and sunglasses”.
Andrew and Rogers have also created a dedicated children’s eye wear showroom, designed with more ‘fun’ in mind. “I basically gave the design brief to my two girls who both use glasses.
I am very impressed with what they came up with. The separate children’s showroom allows us to offer a fabulous choice of eye wear to our younger clients in an environment that makes choosing glasses a fun and enjoyable experience. It’s a great feeling to know that children also feel like first class citizens when they are choosing their glasses”
Converting what was a dreary 70’s style bank interior into something more befitting of the town of Beverley – Andrew and Rogers were congratulated 15 years ago for the loving restoration of the iroko wood parquet floor and high covered ceilings of their old practice at 68 Saturday Market, Beverley.
“This is an exciting step up for us” says Andrew “and we are delighted with the reactions of people visiting the new premises, and we are all very proud of the building – we are doing our bit to preserve the historic architecture of Beverley.”
