
Buildings
172-174 High Street West, Sunderland.
The most famous owners of this building were the Binns family, who operated it as a haberdashery before moving on to their huge department store chain. Later merged as shop space, the separate buildings were originally 18th century houses.
2016 – Today
Our work
T+WBPT began working with Sunderland City Council in 2016 as it became obvious that the derelict High Street West buildings were nearing their last chance to be saved.
Previously, the prior owners of the buildings had been offered funding from the council to conduct restoration work but this offer was declined. The council later purchased the buildings.
In 2017, the properties were placed within Sunderland’s Heritage Action Zone, Heritage Action Zones are areas highlighted by Historic England and its partners as those with significant historic value but are in urgent need of support.
Soon after, they were added specifically to the High Street HAZ which was another Historic England project running from 2020-2024. Nationally, the High Street HAZ was the largest ever publicly funded community-led cultural programme to date.
Restoration work was funded by Historic England, the Architectural Heritage Fund and Sunderland City Council.
Emergency works began in 2018 including making the buildings structurally safe and adding new electrics. Official restoration works then began in January of 2020. Though these works were slowed by COVID-19, they were completed in 2022.
Since then, two of the buildings have been home to PopRecs, a brilliant café, arts venue and community hub; and the third home to Sunshine Cooperative, a food shop selling local and sustainable produce. Both tenants were nominated by the local community through engagement events hosted by T+WBPT.





I’ve been aware of these important buildings in Sunderland for many years, first visiting them nearly 10 years ago. They are an important part of Sunderland’s heritage and help to tell the story of how the city developed. We are delighted to be working with the Tyne and Wear Building Preservation Trust and Sunderland Council to ensure that these special buildings are repaired as part of Sunderland’s Heritage Action Zone.
Catherine Dewar – Historic England’s Planning Director for the North East and North West
1811 – 2016
History
In 1811, no.176 High Street West was bought by George Binns who would use the building to host his draping and haberdashery business before going on to found the locally famous Binns department store chain.
George and his wife, Margaret, had 15 children, the family were Quakers and George Jr. would go on to become a leading member of the Chartist movement. Chartism was a working class political movement campaigning for voting rights for men, a secret ballot, and the payment of MPs. As Quakers, the family vocally opposed slavery and refused to sell slavery-produced goods.
By 1844, the Binns Family had moved to no. 173 and, as the business grew even more, to Fawcett Street and several other properties in the North East. The High Street West buildings continued life as shops and flats but gradually became derelict.



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