Back in 1838 this building, and the others in the range along Broad Street, were owned by a John Chapman.  The left hand end – now skinned in white brick - was lived in by John Warne, a shoe maker and would have been added some time in the early 19^th C whilst the central section was a beerhouse called the Horse and Groom (probably in reference to the stabling available in the Yard behind) run by Nathaniel Clarke who was also brewing his own beer for sale, on the right hand end was William Baxter’s house and shop. After this it all gets a bit confusing but we are lucky to have a plan of first floor which gives a good idea of what we could have expected to have been the original floor plan.  Windows would have been narrow – made wider in later years when glass was much more affordable and light became a priority.  I think it most likely that the LH end as we see it here would have been the workshop from which sales were made, there would have been a screened passage between that and the living accommodation with further storage and accommodation over at the far end.  At some point floor levels were adjusted, chimney stacks put in and a series of adaptations for more modern living were made.

Its most lasting iteration was as the Yallop’s Furniture Emporium – originally cabinet makers from Yarmouth the family broadened their base and by the early 20^th C were selling all sorts of furniture from Iron Bedsteads to Sewing Machines as well as more traditional wooden pieces. Originally busy trads and craftsmen, the last scion of the family Henry, died in 1950 having been the Harleston Employment Exchange Manager for many years.  His own father had been a member of the Council and a Magistrate – most respectable members of the community who were living, not above the shop, but in the substantial house in the Yard behind. A 20thC trend of moving away from one’s place of work – even if in this case only by a few dozen yards. In this image you can still see the attic floor windows and the roof of the now demolished later wing behind.