[1] The building was commissioned by the authority of an act of parliament as the local market hall.

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Old Street.

[4] Between 1920 and 1921, the building was converted to serve as a lasting memorial to local service personnel who had died in the First World War: the work was carried out to a design by H. Rowe and Son,[5] and featured four bronze memorial plaques, which recorded the names of the people who had died.

[12] The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, described the building as "modest... in fact [an] undetached terraced house".

[13] The two-storey building is five bays wide, the ground floor having a Doric colonnade, which was open until the memorial plaques were added.