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| Old houses knocked down in 1873. |
In 1834 The Banking Company first began operations in Hinckley along Castle Street in, but only opened on Mondays.
In 1873 the directors of the company purchased a site (occupied by some old houses) to erect a building for their requirements. The location the directors chose was situated on the corner of Station Road and The Market Place.
The directors of the bank commissioned Goddard and Paget of Leicester as the Architect, who also designed the Atkins factory, Lower Bond Street in 1875, Mr Joseph Goddard was requested to prepare plans for the erection of a New Bank at Hinckley, which he received a commission of £157 4s. The builder was William Tomlinson of Coventry, the overall cost of the building was £1,700.
01-Jan-1875 the Leicestershire Banking Company formally opened the building to the public.
The building has an Orange brick in Flemish Bond, with ashlar dressings. There is also a dark brick plinth, moulded still strings, welsh slate roof. The building was a corner site with the entrance on an angle, the doorway is set in an opening with octagonal granite shafts that have foliate caps and carry a moulded segmental arch, above is an oriel with a moulded base.
The Station Road frontage shows two storeys with three and four bays. The main on right has cross windows under segmental arches to the ground floor and a billet at the level of the sills of the first-floor windows, which are plate-glass sashes under segmental heads, with linked hoodmoulds. Elaborate terra cotta eaves cornice.
The left part of the building has a simpler detail, the eaves cornice continues and there are two hip-roofed dormers. The roof has a looped tile ridge along with a tall ridge stack with an ashlar cornice.
On the side of the building that faces The Market Place, there are three narrow bays, with similar detail and an ashlar-corniced end stack.
The building has been described as being handsome and commodious bank. The building had a managers residence and every requisite convenience to carry on very extensive operations. The design of the building made it one of the finest buildings in the town.
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