Fire Risk Assessment in Ashby-de-la-Zouch
Fire risk assessments for Market Street shops with rooms above, old timber-framed buildings, food and distribution units and shared houses across Ashby, Measham, Moira and Castle Donington. Most premises come in at £200 to £500. The district council licenses a shared house only at five tenants or more, and asks to see a fire risk assessment with every licence application.
Updated October 2026
North West Leicestershire’s rules next to Leicester’s and Charnwood’s
North West Leicestershire licenses only the largest shared houses. In Charnwood a three-person house needs a licence, and in Leicester it depends on the street. The fire risk assessment duty is the same in all three.
| North West Leicestershire (Ashby, Measham, Castle Donington) | Leicester city | Charnwood (Loughborough, Shepshed) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three or four tenants sharing | Not licensed | Licensed if the street is in a selective area | Licensed borough-wide under the additional scheme |
| Larger shared house (5+) | Mandatory licence, applied for online | Mandatory licence | Mandatory licence |
| What you pay | £947: £410 at application, £537 at issue | £900 (HMO) or £1,290 (selective) | £700 (£395 + £305) |
| Licence length | 5 years, then renew on the same online form | Selective scheme live since October 2022 and due for review October 2027 | Borough-wide scheme until 31 March 2028 |
| Fire risk assessment | The same in all three: the shared kitchen, hall and stairs of every HMO need one, whatever its licence status | ||
Checked 16 October 2026 against: North West Leicestershire’s HMO licensing page; Leicester’s HMO and selective licensing guidance; Charnwood’s licensing FAQs and designation notice.
What assessors find in Ashby-de-la-Zouch buildings
Timber frames behind brick fronts on Market Street
The council’s conservation area appraisal records pre-1700 timber framing “often covered by later brickwork”, and says many facades were added onto buildings with earlier origins. The listing for 51 Market Street describes a 16th-century timber-framed building with a fake timber frame and brickwork added in the early 1800s. Numbers 84 and 86 have a timber-framed rear wing behind a later brick front, and 90 and 92 have framing at the back of a painted brick facade. For fire safety, the issue is what you cannot see. Where a new skin meets an old frame, and where centuries of alterations have cut through floors and walls, there are hidden gaps that let smoke and fire travel sideways and upwards. The assessor will want to look above ceilings, into the roof space and at the walls shared with next door.
Courts and yards behind the frontages
Ashby’s medieval plots ran the full depth from Market Street to the streets behind, and some 32 courts of houses and workshops were built along them. Several survive. When the council’s appraisal was written in 2001, Court No. 19, behind 83 and 85 Market Street, was still lived in, and the former court buildings on Mill Lane now hold small shops. Between 90 and 92 Market Street there is still a passage to a former court. When a flat or workroom is reached down a passage or across a yard, the assessor checks who controls that route, whether a gate on it is ever locked, and whether bins or stock end up blocking it.
Empty rooms over shops coming back into use
The 2001 appraisal noted that the vacancy rate for upper floors was highest along Market Street, with a slow move towards turning those floors back into homes. Every upper floor that becomes a flat raises the same questions. Is there a floor between the shop and the flat that holds back fire, or just old boards and a lath ceiling? Does the stair to the flat pass through the shop? Will anyone upstairs hear an alarm that starts in the shop at night?
Listed buildings, from the Bull’s Head to the water tower
The 2001 appraisal counted over 120 listed buildings in the town’s conservation area. They include the 16th-century Bull’s Head at 67 Market Street, listed Grade II*, the Town Hall and Market Hall of 1857 at 74 Market Street, and the 19th-century water tower in the Moira Road cemetery, now converted into a house. In these buildings a new fire door, an alarm cable or a sealed opening can need listed building consent. Upgrading an old panelled door is often a better answer than replacing it, and Historic England publishes guidance on how.
Snack making and distribution off Smisby Road
United Biscuits is by far the largest employer in Ashby, with about 2,000 jobs between its distribution centre and the KP Snacks factory in Smisby Road. The KP site makes Hula Hoops and has made crisps since Meredith & Drew opened a factory there in 1948. The smaller firms around sites like this, from packaging suppliers to haulage yards and food units, are where written assessments most often go missing. Warehouses and production units are priced on size and layout, so the assessor quotes after seeing plans or photos.
Sources: North West Leicestershire District Council, Ashby de la Zouch Conservation Area Appraisal (adopted April 2001); listing entries for 51 Market Street, 84 and 86 Market Street and 90 and 92 Market Street; Ashby-de-la-Zouch; Food Manufacture, September 2019; PotatoPro, KP Snacks Ashby; Historic England, fire resistance of historic timber panel doors. Checked 16 October 2026.
Real questions from shop owners and building owners
“What is the minimum legal requirement for fire detection in a commercial premises with accommodation above.”Someone asking about a shop with living space above, writing to the Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, October 2014
There is no single answer, which is why the law asks for an assessment. In an Ashby shop with a flat above, the deciding factors are how well the floor between them resists fire, whether the flat has its own way out or shares the shop’s stair, and who is in the building at night. Where the separation is poor, expect a recommendation for detection in the shop that sounds in the flat, so someone asleep upstairs is woken early.
“I understand that there may be certain exemptions for fire safety regulations in Grade 2 listed buildings…”Someone responsible for a listed building, writing to the Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, April 2023
There are no exemptions. A listed building on Market Street needs a fire risk assessment like any other shop, office or block of flats. What changes is how the actions are carried out. A good assessor working on a listed Ashby building will say which items touch historic fabric, offer options such as upgrading an existing door with intumescent strips and closers, and leave the detail for you to settle with North West Leicestershire’s conservation officers before any work is booked.
Sources: Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, 27 October 2014; Safelincs Fire Safety Forum, 10 April 2023.
The Market Street fire of March 2017
On the afternoon of Wednesday 1 March 2017, a fire started in a first-floor office of a Market Street building that had a shop at street level and offices above. Crews from Ashby, Coalville, Swadlincote and Shepshed attended with an aerial ladder platform from Birstall. Firefighters in breathing apparatus rescued a man from inside. He later died in hospital.
The fire service recorded that about a fifth of the first floor was badly damaged, including the staircase up to the second floor, and that both upper floors suffered heavy smoke damage. Afterwards, fire service staff ran advice sessions on Market Street aimed at buildings that mix businesses and homes. The cause was under investigation when the service reported it. The lesson for anyone with rooms above a town-centre shop is simple: in a narrow old building the stair is often the only way down, and it has to be protected.
Sources: Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, incident record, 1 March 2017, serious fire in Ashby de la Zouch and advice sessions after the fire. Checked 16 October 2026.
Worked through: a listed shop on Market Street
Gift shop with a flat above, Market Street
The building: a listed, three-storey building with an early 19th-century brick front. The shop takes the ground floor, a two-bedroom flat takes the two floors above, and a timber-framed wing runs back towards a former court. The flat’s front door is at the back of the shop, reached from the court passage.
Getting a price: the new owner sends photos of the stair, the back of the shop and the passage, and mentions the timber wing. The enquiry is passed to one local assessor, whose fixed price is £320. That falls inside the £200 to £350 band that covers small shops, including those with living space over them.
The visit: a little under two hours, with time set aside for the roof void, the rear wing and the passage to the street.
What was found: an old extract duct runs from the stockroom up through the flat’s floor, with the gap around it left open. The flat’s stair has no door at the bottom, so smoke from the shop would reach it. The gate from the court passage to the street is padlocked at night. The flat has one battery smoke alarm.
Priorities: straight away, seal around the duct, hang a self-closing fire door where the stair meets the shop and replace the padlock with a thumb-turn lock. After that, linked heat and smoke detection across shop and flat. The door and the fire-stopping both touch a listed building, so the owner clears them with the district council first. A follow-up review is pencilled in for a year’s time.
What the owner receives: a PAS 79-1:2020 report listing each action by urgency and flagging every item that affects historic fabric.
Areas covered in North West Leicestershire
Enquiries from anywhere else in Leicestershire are welcome too, and Loughborough and Hinckley have pages of their own.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch: your questions answered
Do I need an HMO licence in Ashby-de-la-Zouch?
Only from five tenants who are not a single household. The district runs mandatory licensing alone, with no additional or selective scheme on its HMO page (checked October 2026). You pay £410 to apply and £537 before issue, for a five-year licence.
Does the council want to see a fire risk assessment?
Yes, if the house needs a licence. Its document checklist names a written fire risk assessment, an alarm test certificate and a labelled floor plan. Book the assessment before you open the online form.
How much does a fire risk assessment cost in Ashby?
Most Ashby enquiries come from Market Street and the streets off it, where a shop or office, with or without a flat above, costs £200 to £350. Letting rooms to three, four or five sharers? Allow £250 to £400. Food units and warehouses have no set band, so the assessor prices them from plans. Other building types are in the cost guide.
My building has a timber frame behind a brick front. Does that change anything?
It makes the hidden voids more important, because gaps between old timbers, later brickwork and patched floors can let fire spread out of sight. If the assessor cannot see enough, they may recommend opening up a few areas or a specialist fire-stopping survey.
Is a listed building exempt from fire safety rules?
No. Listed buildings need a fire risk assessment like any other. The work that follows may need listed building consent, so ask the assessor to flag actions that affect historic fabric and to offer options such as upgrading existing doors.
Do you cover Measham, Moira, Packington and Castle Donington?
All four, plus Kegworth, Appleby Magna, Breedon on the Hill and the rest of North West Leicestershire. Your enquiry goes to one qualified local assessor, with a fixed price agreed before booking.
Ask for an Ashby quote
Give us the postcode and say what is there: a Market Street shop, rooms over a shop, a shared house or a unit. If the building is listed or timber-framed, mention it.
Licensing a house? Start with the HMO guide. Prices are in the cost guide, or call 0116 497 6683.