The building at 30-32 Dolphin Lane dates to the early 19th century with some later 19th century modifications, including the addition of a second storey to the back wing, a large, well-lit loft space. The function of this is not certain but it is possible that it was a store room, although the availability of light also might suggest that it might have been used as a workshop. The building is built of red brick with pitched tiled and slate roofs. The ground floor is now (2011) used by an optician's practice and has been modernised. There is some evidence of an earlier use that required greater security, including barred and externally shuttered windows. The building has a three-storey rectangular front range which extends to the east over a passage that leads from the street to the back yard. To the rear is a lower three-storey wing with a small single-storey lean-to to the east. The south elevation contains a ground-floor shop front with deeply recessed door flanked by three-pane plate glass windows under a moulded wooden fascia, to the east of which is a door that gives access to a passage leading to a back yard. Above the shop front there are two vertical sash windows under cambered arches to both storeys. The west elevation is blank, but there are two similar windows to the second storey of the north gable and to the upper storeys of the east elevation. The ground floor of this elevation has a sash window with external shutters, barred on the inside, to the north of which is a blocked door. The passage to the yard opens into a slate-roofed ground-floor lean-to against the east elevation. This has a stone flagged floor. A small modern single-storey flat roofed extension has been added to the north-east corner of the rear wing. There are few surviving original fittings although the first floor of the front range and rear wing retain original joinery, including four panelled doors and shelving, and there are three early 19th century fireplaces with basket grates and moulded surrounds with roundels in the corners. The building is of considerable local interest and makes a substantial contribution to the conservation area and to the architecturally varied streetscape of Dolphin Lane, but it is of modest architectural interest and did not satisfy the criteria for statutory designation in 2011.{1} There were jewellers and watch makers recorded in Dolphin Lane in White's 1856 Directory and there is a report of a watch winder having been found that was engraved with this address and the company name Claypole & Sons. There was a H. Claypole & Sons, watch makers, jewellers, clothes outfitters and pawnbrokers, with a property in Dolphin Lane, in White's 1892 Directory. If the building was a jewellers and watch makers this may explain the additional security features in the building. {2}{3}{4}