Occupying a prominent position between Red Lion Street and the Market Place, this Grade II listed building has been at the heart of Aylsham's commercial life for centuries. Today it is home to the award-winning Ironmongers Boutique Hotel, together with Bread Source, M's Fish Deli and Tapas Bar, and The Proper Pizza Company.

Behind its elegant Georgian facade lie two medieval timber-framed buildings, later remodelled during the eighteenth century as fashions changed. During much of that century the premises traded as a grocer's shop, before being requisitioned in 1816 as a depot for the Eastern Regiment of the Norfolk Local Militia during the Napoleonic period.

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the building housed a succession of businesses, including the tailor Stephen Breese, whose family traded here for more than a century, a china and glass dealer, and later Henry Page's china department.

The property is best remembered as Clarke's Ironmongers. Charles Clarke established the business in the 1930s, later expanding into the Market Place premises. Alan Clarke became legendary for stocking almost everything imaginable - from paint, tools and gardening equipment to kitchenware, curtain poles and key cutting. Locals often joked that if Alan didn't have it, you probably didn't need it. The shop finally closed in 2012 following his retirement.

After standing empty for several years, the building was lovingly restored by its new owners. Renovation uncovered original seventeenth-century timber beams, wattle-and-daub walls, concealed Victorian shoes and the iron safe that once held the shop's takings.

Reopened in 2021 as a boutique hotel, the building's eight individually designed rooms celebrate Aylsham's historic market trades, ensuring this remarkable landmark continues to play a central role in the life of the town.