Heritage

Pub protection successes

Paul Ainsworth highlights six more pubs that have benefitted from CAMRA campaigning

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL SLAUGHTER LRPS

In the previous issue, I highlighted

some of the results from the latest joint initiative between CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group and Historic England to have more historic pubs statutorily listed and to enhance the descriptions of those already enjoying the protection. This article covers a further six pubs that have benefitted from this exercise.

Three pubs were listed (at Grade II) for the first time. As well as the Admiral Vernon, Dagenham, mentioned last time, a further London-area pub gained a listing – the Blythe Hill Tavern in Forest Hill. This delightful Victorian corner local received a makeover in the 1920s and has happily avoided any significant alterations since. There are three separate rooms – a public bar on the corner, a saloon to the left and another room at the back. The servery has an unusual T-shaped layout designed to create a counter in each room. An especially unusual feature is that customers are welcome to walk across the serving area between the saloon and back room. The fittings are typical of their era, being largely simple and undemonstrative as opposed to the Victorian extravagance that no doubt preceded them – but survivals of largely complete schemes from this period are rare, hence the listing.

The third listing is a more difficult case, unresolved at the time of writing. The New Beehive Inn, Bradford, was rebuilt in 1901 and then refurbished in

‘The council’s planning enforcement team has been alerted and we hope further damage can be prevented’

1936, resulting in an interesting mix of Edwardian and interwar work. Much of the original floorplan survives, though only the front right-hand bar retained its 1901 fittings. Left of the entrance foyer are the Commercial and Pink rooms, with the Music Room at the rear. This really is a special interior but, shortly before the listing was announced, the pub was sold and the new owners (whose intentions for it are unclear) had already begun work, removing a counter and replacing the front windows with uPVC. The council’s planning enforcement team has been alerted and we hope that any further damage can be prevented.

Two already listed pubs were

upgraded to Grade II*, Whitelock’s Ale House, Leeds (mentioned last time) and the remarkable Prince Alfred in Maida

Clockwise from top left: Right-hand bar at the Blythe Hill Tavern in Forest Hill, London; peninsula bar at the Prince Alfred in Maida Vale, London; North Star, Steventon, Settle Room; Black Horse, Preston, semicircular ceramic bar and mosaic flooring

Vale, London. Here, we find the country’s only peninsula-style servery that retains all its original surrounding drinking areas – five of them no less, each with its own street entrance.

What you see now dates from an 1898 internal rebuild with the main space divided by ornate timber and glass screens, all with a low service door for use by cleaners and potboys.

The smallest compartment has a full set of very rare snob screens – small, swivelling glazed panels at eye level, which stopped customers elsewhere in the pub seeing you. Magnificent tall carved fitments adorn both the centre of the servery and the back wall. A 2001 refit gave the place more of a caférestaurant feel, but without damaging its delicate Rococo character.

Our last three pubs have all benefitted from greatly expanded internal

‘One has snob screens – small, swivelling glazed panels at eye level, which stopped other customers seeing you’

descriptions, which are important to help planners understand historic buildings when faced with applications for change. They are: l North Star, Steventon: the main bar here sports a once-common, but now almost extinct, arrangement of settles in the centre, focused on the fireplace, with attached ironwork that once carried curtains for greater privacy. The lack of a bar counter is also a great rarity – only five other traditional pubs still serve in this way. l Black Horse, Preston: by way of contrast, this is an exuberant towncentre pub from the heyday of Victorian pub building. The multi-roomed interior is a delight in itself but the star attraction is the glorious public bar, dominated by a semicircular ceramic counter fronted by intricate mosaic flooring and also featuring a tiled dado and rare ceramic fireplace. The small smokerooms, either side of the mosaic-floored corridor, also have many original fittings. l Bridge Inn, Topsham: in Devon, this splendid old pub has been in the same family since 1897 and famously received a visit from the Queen in 1998. Again, there are many rooms to enjoy, the most unusual being the Inner Sanctum, a small parlour area behind the servery where customers may be invited to sit. Only one other pub (the Arden Arms, Stockport) now has an arrangement like this.

Work is still under way on compiling an enhanced description of the interior of the Fleece, Bretforton.