‘Mischief’ maker’s Exeter home could become flats

An Exeter house that once housed the laboratory of a well-known forensic scientist whose own friends described him as ‘eccentric’ and a ‘mischief maker’ could be turned into flats.

A planning application has been lodged with Exeter City Council to refurbish the former Tickle and Reynolds lab in Heavitree Road and create nine residential apartments.

It was formerly the home of Edward Braxton Reynolds, who died in 2023 at the age of 83. He was born in Exeter and went to school at Rosary House School in Heavitree, then Exeter School, before going on to read chemistry at University College in London where his father had studied more than three decades earlier.

He won two gold medals in his final year but emerged with ‘a very undistinguished degree’ having been left unenthused by his lecturers.

After working in a laboratory in London he returned to Exeter to work alongside his father. In 1973 he was appointed public analyst, official agricultural analyst and scientific advisor for Devon and later in the same year for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. His father immediately stepped down as senior partner and became his son’s deputy.

‘Brax’, as his friends and colleagues called him, became known for the speed of his problem-solving, applying his skills to tasks from analysing dairy ice cream and soft drinks to the grisly assignment of working out if there were any human remains in a consignment of animal feed.

In 1998 he was elected Association of Public Analysts President, during which time he gave evidence to the House of Commons Committee on Food Standards. He also acted as an expert witness on drink-driving cases for many years.

Then in 2010, at the age of 69, he and his business partner opened a sex shop in a small parade of shops in Truro city centre.

This marked the start of a long battle with local Christian and moral campaigners, city and county councillors and local shopkeepers. His friends said he ‘enjoyed nothing more than tweaking the noses of those he regarded as pompous’.

He acted as his own counsel during local authority hearings and legal battles, all of which he won.

At one stage he was dealing with a senior council solicitor who had just returned from a six-week secondment to the Falkland Islands, who told Mr Reynolds that if he was planning to make any more appeals he would be going back to the South Atlantic for good.

When the building in Heavitree Road was put on the market after his death, the estate agents’ brochure revealed intriguing remnants of its dual role as a home and lab, with empty glass jars, boxes and machinery among the widespread clutter inside.

Many rooms had fluorescent strip lighting, with the lab space having taken over much of the property. Historic features remained, including decorative work on the large staircase and also some ceilings, as well as a stained glass window.

The house was advertised for sale as a ‘development project’ with a guide price of £650,000.

In their current application, agents PMR Architecture say the property was already in a state of disrepair when Mr Reynolds died, and has continued to degrade ever since. The site is overgrown and damp, and has attracted anti-social behaviour, vandalism and drug use.

The windows and doors have now been securely boarded up. The proposals are for a ‘sensitive and high-quality’ redevelopment, bringing the derelict building back into use. The agents say the proposed development will preserve the historic significance of the site while making a positive contribution to the city.

The original house was built in the 1890s, and had been in use as a laboratory since the 1950s.