Fiddlers Elbow, London

Grade II listing:- Circa 1845. Designer Unknown. Yellow stock brick with extensive stone and rendered dressings; roof not visible. Three storeys with lower side extensions. EXTERIOR: Main part of the building comprises a five-sided drum with projecting rear. The ground floor is rendered, with rustication to the corner and pilasters flanking the doors; the window glass is modern, and not of special interest. Dentil cornice over frieze at first floor level. First floor windows are 6/6-pane sashes, with gauged arches above. Plat band at second floor level. Second floor windows are 3/3-pane sashes, also with gauged arches; above is a deep frieze, dentil cornice and parapet; two chimneystacks with moulded caps crown the main front. INTERIOR: ground floor only inspected. This has undergone alterations, but retains some behind-bar features, including a run of Corinthian colonnettes, as well as Corinthian columns to the main bar, a pair of moulded brackets, a depressed arch to the left of the bar flanked by lotus leaf pilasters. Upper floors not inspected. HISTORY: this pub was formerly known as the Old Mother Shipton. It stands on a prominent corner site, which it turns very effectively by the use of a drum forming the upper floors. Despite some internal alteration it remains a good example of an early Victorian public house.