Often considered one of the nicest pieces of architecture in Nottingham, the grand Victorian building on King Street has housed everything from an insurance firm to a Hard Rock Cafe. Today, it is home to cocktail bar The Alchemist with its quirky and mysterious setting.
Designed by Alfred Waterhouse, the building was commissioned by the Prudential Assurance Company and completed in 1893. Speaking of its history last year, executive chair of the Nottingham Civic Society, Hilary Silvester said: "They pulled down slums - decrepit old buildings - and they built The Pru, and then they built the Elite Cinema above it.
"They [Prudential Assurance Company] were very a important insurance company in the 19th century, they built these rather pompous but very nice buildings. The ground floor had a public clerk, where people went in to pay their insurance premiums.”
Read more: Cinema boss 'actively seeking' venue in Nottingham despite failed Broadmarsh Centre plans
The grand building was modernised in 1991 and has since homed Clarendon College, Hard Rock Cafe and Brazilian Restaurant Tropeiro. We spoke to shoppers in the city centre to ask them whether they consider it the nicest building in Nottingham.
Maureen Widdowson, 79, from Mapperley said: "All these buildings are beautiful. It is when they stuff something on the top of them that does not belong. All of these [buildings along Long Row], they all match. I just hope they don't pull it down. I have lived here all my life and I hope when people visit they are going to get a good view."
Anne Harrison, 74, from East Leake said: "It is a fine building, I would not go as far to say it is the nicest but it is one of the nicest. I like the building which housed The People's Hall on Heathcoat Street because that holds a personal value to me. We remember what they looked like in the 60s."
Her husband Brian Harrison, 71, added: "They are all built by the same architecture, Fothergill built a lot of these. They should not have ever knocked down the Shambles [area of Broadmarsh Shopping Centre]."
Judy Riley, 70, originally from Nottingham but now living in Bedfordshire said: "I would say no, not because of what it looks like but I think what goes on in Nottingham Playhouse is nicer. It is a fine building."
Her childhood friend Denise Bailey, 69, from Newstead Village added: "I think St Mary's Church is the nicest. This building is very gothic and its a matter of taste. I prefer that one [Queen's Chambers which houses charity shop White Rose]."
If you take a visit to the building now, you will be served by bartenders who transform cocktails into bewitching potions with smoke, flames and bubbles replicating the ancient philosophy of alchemy. The bar and restaurant opened in 2018 after a £1.65m transformation.
