The Victoria public house including attached walls, gate piers, setted yards and outbuilding

Summary

Public house dated 1905, with minor alterations.

Reasons for Designation

The Victoria public house, Great Harwood, a public house of 1905, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an increasingly uncommon near-complete example of a purpose-built early-C20 public house, with a little-altered plan form, and much original interior decoration and contemporary fittings;

* enhanced by the unusually good survival of associated structures.

History

The Victoria was built in 1905 by Alfred Nuttall, where ‘butcher’s bridge’ crossed the Great Harwood loop of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (opened 1877) to access, it is thought, fields leased by a local butcher; the pub is sometimes also known as butcher brig, recalling this connection.

In the second half of the C19 Great Harwood had expanded considerably beyond the ‘lower town’ which existed until then, with textile mills and terraced streets to the south and east particularly. In 1888 Albert Mill had become the first to be built to the south of the railway line, and it was joined in 1899 by Deveron Mill and in 1903 by Palatine Mill. The Victoria was built immediately west of Palatine Mill, perhaps in hope of attracting its workers as customers.

The pub has been little-altered since it was built. A wide doorway has been inserted in the wall of the room to the right of the entrance, with the loss of the original door surround, although the 'Smoke Room' door has been relocated from here as the door to the gents' toilets. The 'Jug Department' (providing off-sales) door has been re-sited to the ladies' toilets. This probably originally accessed a small lobby within the Smoke Room, served by the serving hatch now (2022) to the left of the servery in that room. The Smoke Room has lost its fireplace, and dado panelling and an inter-war wood surround fireplace with modern tiles have been inserted in the private room at the rear of the pub. Just before the pub was listed (in 1997), the original sash windows were replaced in pvc. Since listing, the glass in the door of the inner entrance lobby screen, which was frosted and etched 'Victoria Hotel', has been replaced with glass etched ‘butcher brigg’. In recent years a deck and smoking shelter have been added to the south-east. Some floors have been carpeted although the original floors are thought to remain beneath.

Details

Public house dated 1905, with minor late-C20 alterations, built by Alfred Nuttall.

MATERIALS: buff sandstone with ashlar dressings beneath a Welsh slate roof, pvc windows.

PLAN: a double-pile plan with a single-pile rear range and a single-storey rear outshut.

EXTERIOR: two storeys tall (with a cellar) and three bays wide with a central entrance, the front faces south-west. It is of regularly-coursed snecked stone, with dressed-stone sill-bands, first-floor lintel band and quoins, moulded kneelers and cornice, and a low plinth. The windows have chamfered, dressed-stone surrounds. The entrance has pilasters and a moulded canopy with consoles, and the original nine-panelled oak door. To the left is a two-light mullioned window with a scallop-shell plaque above with the date '1905'. To the right is a single window with a segmental relieving arch above and scroll carving in the tympanum. There are narrower windows above these and the entrance. Stone chimney stacks are visible at the right gable and left ridge. The ridge has crested red clay tiles.

The north-west wall is gabled to the front range, with a stone coping. Each floor has a narrow window just forward of the ridge, a wider window to the rear of the ridge, and paired windows at the rear, all with dressed-stone surrounds and sill bands. Set back at ground floor is the side of the single-storey rear outshut.

The north-east (rear) wall is blind at first floor level except for the stair window. It has twin gables, each with a short chimney stack. The single-storey outshut has twin hipped roofs and plain windows and doors.

The south-east side is similar to the north-west, but partially obscured at the left by the toilets, and with a central doorway accessing the drinking lobby.

INTERIOR: the pub is centred around an impressive decorative drinking lobby with the servery at right angles presenting its narrow end to the right hand side of the lobby, and a drinking corridor along the far side of the servery.

The drinking lobby is reached via a small entrance lobby with a terrazzo floor and decorative tiling on the left wall, and a glazed timber screen with an inner door, the modern glass etched ‘butcher brigg’. The drinking lobby and corridor have floor-to-ceiling tiling on the walls, with dark green skirting and bands, anthemion borders, floral tiles and an Art Nouveau frieze comprising two rows of tiles with leaves, and a row of flower heads. It and all the rooms off it have timber panelled ceilings and moulded cornices. Clockwise from the entrance, the lobby serves a Commercial Room, Parlour, Public Kitchen and Bar Parlour, all of which have pedimented Jacobean timber door surrounds and panelled doors with glazing etched with Art Nouveau patterns and the room names. Immediately to the right of the entrance into the drinking lobby, the wall is tiled only below the cornice, but has a dado with embossed wallpaper below, and the Smoke Room is accessed by a wide doorless opening. The drinking lobby retains a terrazzo floor beneath the carpet.

The servery has tiled fronts to the lobby and corridor, and a canted entrance on the corner with a timber gate and door surround with an overlight etched with Art Nouveau designs and ‘Bar’. The vertical sliding serving hatches have Art Nouveau etched glass, and plain glass above. The mirrored bar backs are original.

The Commercial Room has a wood block floor, slatted wooden seating around the walls and a fireplace and original ceiling light. The Parlour has a decorative carved baffle, upholstered fixed bench seating all around, half panelling and an Art Nouveau tiled cast fireplace. The Public Kitchen has a herringbone quarry-tiled floor, bare slatted fixed bench seating all around, two deep etched and frosted glass windows, a fireplace with a wood surround, tiles and a cast-iron fire. The Bar Parlour has a decorative carved baffle and upholstered fixed bench seating with carved pine-cone and husk designs and panelling above, and a fireplace with a wood surround, green-glazed brick and a cast-iron fire. The Smoke Room has hatches and a tiled front to the servery matching those of the lobby, as well as the small serving hatch to the former jug department.

The lobby tiling continues up the open Jacobean-style mahogany staircase opposite the entrance, which leads to private quarters which are thought to retain original fireplaces and other decorative features including cast-iron radiators matching those of the downstairs rooms. The stair window has leaded and coloured glass.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached on either side of the street frontage are walls with entrances and gate piers. The former bowling green has a stone wall to the street with ramped copings and recessed panels. The side and rear yards are setted. In the north corner stands an outbuilding of one and two storeys in similar stone to the pub, thought to be a former brew-house and store.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

468923

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Information on the pub from local history website, accessed 11/01/2022 from https://www.great-harwood.org.uk/pubs/victoriahotel.htm
Information on mills from local history website, accessed 11/01/2022 from https://www.great-harwood.org.uk/cotton/millsafter1877.htm
CAMRA national pub interiors inventory entry, accessed 03/03/22 from https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs/101

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