The Counting House

The building

The Counting House is one of Pontefract's oldest buildings, set in the town centre with a long commercial history and now brought back into use as a bar and restaurant. The work sat inside an architect-led restoration of a building that had moved, settled and been altered over centuries.

Nothing was square, level or regular. Every opening, beam and junction had to be treated as its own problem, with new joinery made to sit convincingly inside old fabric rather than looking like a modern addition.

The brief and the work

Heritage Joiners carried out a broad package of oak joinery and restoration carpentry. The kitchen area was formed with new studwork and plasterboarded ready for the next stages of fit-out. Split structural beams were drilled, bolted and pulled back together so the old timber was sound again.

The largest feature was the pair of rear staircases and landings, made and fitted in solid oak with non-slip metal treads worked into the design. At the front, the existing entrance was replaced with a heavy ledged and braced solid oak door and frame, made over 60mm thick and built with the weight and presence the building deserved.

Around the interior, oak was machined and fitted to windows, door frames, toilet areas, boxing-ins and feature details. Original timber was retained and restored where possible, including an original exterior frame repaired with a clean bottom splice and an original Victorian door repaired, restored and refitted to the downstairs electrical cupboard.

Matching old and new oak

Much of the craft was in making new work sit naturally against old work. Old oak carries colour, movement, marks and character that new timber does not have on the bench. New sections had to be machined accurately, then finished with judgement so they did not read as too sharp or too clean once fitted.

New oak, reused oak and existing timber were brought together through proportion, profile, grain and finish. That is where bench-hand joinery experience shows: not just in making a piece correctly, but in knowing whether it looks right when you stand back in the building.

Outcome

The Counting House was brought back into use with visible oak joinery and practical restoration carpentry forming a major part of the finished building. The rear oak staircases and landings, the solid oak front door and frame, the internal frames and boxing-ins, kitchen studwork, beam repairs, toilet-area details and restored original timber all work together without stripping the building of its age.

It is now a usable town-centre bar and restaurant that still carries the weight and character of an old Pontefract building. The restoration project went on to receive the Heritage Award at Pontefract Civic Society's 2025 Design Awards.