Bulls Head, Telford

Dating from 1838, this pub is especially notable for its thrilling and colourful display of tiles and glazed bricks, dating from around 1904.

The ceramics are by Maw & Co. whose Jackfield tileworks, in the Ironbridge Gorge, was the largest in the world at the end of the 19th century. The frontage has bands of green and orange glazed brick on the upper floor with, below, highly unusual strips of mosaic dividing the windows and doors. In the front room the tiling extends from floor to ceiling in various designs and colours. The floor, too, is tiled in patterns of brown, buff, blue and white. Some of the glazing is contemporary, including windows on the first floor and the door glass inscribed ‘Bar’. A change is that there used to be a corridor from the right-hand doorway to the rear. The counter (with unusual strips of low-relief carved decoration) and the bar-back are, no doubt, also Edwardian. The rear and left hand parts took their present form in 1984.