The New Inn

Summary

Public house, early to mid-C18, re-fronted late C19 to early C20.

History

Selby as a settlement dates to the Anglo-Saxon period, when it was known as Seletun (old Scandinavian for ‘sallow tree settlement’) and was referred by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of AD 779. A charter of about 1030 called it Seleby and about 1050 it was Selbi. King Henry I was born in Selby in 1068 and, a year later, Benedict, a French monk from Auxerre, obtained permission from King William to establish an Abbey. The Market Place has existed since the early C14. By the C15, Selby had developed thriving trade links along the East Coast and with the Low Countries. Selby Abbey succumbed to dissolution in 1539, and the core of the building became the parish church in 1618.

Selby’s commercial importance grew dramatically following the opening of the Selby Canal in 1778, becoming a notable inland port; however, after the building of Goole Docks in 1826, it suffered a very rapid decline. The town’s fortunes recovered in 1834, with the opening of the Leeds and Selby Railway, and by the early C20, witnessed a growth in several industries served by the railways and river traffic, including: flour milling, malting, oilseed milling and cattle feed production. In 1983, coal production commenced from the Selby Coalfield. Shipbuilding ended ten years later, and coal mining ceased in 2004. Since then, there has been a gradual reduction in the traditional industries, although some remain.

By the C18, Gowthorpe had become the principal shopping street of Selby, leading directly onto the Market Place and Selby Abbey. It was also the main thoroughfare to Leeds. Medieval burgage plots used to extend on the northern side of the street as far as Selby Dam, and the narrow rear range of the The New Inn conforms to one of these plots. The existing building appears to date from the early to mid-C18, with a steeply-pitched roof to the main range, which runs parallel to Gowthorpe, and a long narrow rear range built at a slightly canted angle. Archive photographs show that it was once part of the adjacent 2 Gowthorpe, forming a nine-bay building with a slightly projecting central bay entrance, which now forms a passageway entry on the eastern side of the current main elevation. The passageway allows access to the rear range and also to the rear of several properties in Finkle Street. The rear range was probably built in phases with multiple uses, including workshops, stabling, and housing. The building was refurbished and the exterior was re-fronted between 1933 and 1934 for Middlebrough, the local brewing firm, to designs by the 24-year old architect John G L Poulson (Poulson had begun his career with the Pontefract firm of Garside and Pennington, who were experienced pub designers). The refurbishment included a new Arts and Crafts-style pub front with leaded glass and good quality joinery to the interior, including fine wood panelling, built-in settles, bell-pushes and a striking bow-windowed counter screen. The decorative leaded windows have stained-glass ‘sporting’ scenes believed to show members of the Middlebrough family.

In the 1950s the building was bought by Tetleys brewery. Alterations took place in the late C20 and early C21, and the former stables to the rear were converted into a night club.

Details

Public house, early to mid-C18, re-fronted early C20.

MATERIALS: stuccoed brick to front elevation, ashlar dressings, with a pitched and sprocketed roof clad in grey/green slates.

PLAN: narrow sub-rectangular plan.

EXTERIOR: the two storey, five-bay front elevation with a rendered brick plinth is fitted with an early-C20 ground-floor public house front that has an ashlar fascia and a moulded cornice with raised lettering that reads: THE NEW INN. The fascia crosses the width of the building above a pair of ashlar mullioned and transom tripartite decorative Arts and Crafts leaded windows, set to either side of an ashlar Tudor-style double doorway. The doorway has a 4-centred moulded arch and a narrow oblong leaded fanlight, beneath a lintel with painted gold and red lettering that reads: WINES & SPIRITS, flanked by modern replica brass lanterns. It is closed by a pair of two-panel doors with canted top rails, each fitted with a single brass door knob and a lion head door knocker. The wall breaks forward slightly to the right-hand side and has a passageway entrance that is closed by a plank gate. The stained-glass windows have panels depicting shooting scenes. The first floor is stuccoed, and has five narrow segmental-headed flush-framed 24-light sashes with keystones, beneath deep eaves which support moulded cast-iron rainwater goods that drain into a square-section down pipe. The left-hand end of the pitched and sprocketed roof has a raised rendered brick verge, and there is an offset rendered ridge stack with four tall terracotta drawn chimney pots.

INTERIOR: the double entry canted and panelled porch has a terrazzo floor with the wording ‘New Inn’ in tiles. The panelled doors have brass handles, finger plates, and leaded lights. The two public rooms have bars with mullions which run up to deep glazed valences with leaded lights; the one to the former Smoke Room forms a shallow canted bay window. They are both fitted with built-in settles with Arts and Crafts-style detailed arms and legs.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

325758

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Morrell, WW, The History and Antiquities of Selby, (1867)
Chrystal, P, Selby & Goole Through Time, (2012), 16

Websites
CAMRA Pub Heritage - Heritage Pub Interiors - New Inn - North Yorkshire, Selby, accessed 19 April 2024 from https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs/12024

Other
1:1056 Town Map, 1849
1:500 Town Map, 1890-9

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry