Interesting architecture and windows.
One star - A pub interior of special national historic interest
Listed status: Not listed
A prominent Edwardian corner pub with a great deal to admire within.
This is a large one-storey former Charringtons pub, built of red brick with glazed tiling on the ground floor. The pub name is depicted in bas relief terracotta above the door at the corner. The first recorded licensee was in 1905 when the pub was probably newly built by Saville Brothers brewery of Stratford, who were taken over by Charringtons in 1925. An off licence was originally located at the far left hand side of the Forest Road elevation, but is now subsumed into the main pub area. It has characteristic Charringtons fenestration with green borders and above, colourful Art Nouveau patterning.
Until 2020, a wall divided the pub into two parts, but this was removed during a major refurbishment. The corner door is signed as the public bar; and a disused door on Palmerston Road once led to a saloon bar to its right. This has baffles with etched glass on either side that look original, and may be remnants of a vestibule entrance to the saloon. There’s a tiled fireplace at the back of this area.
There is a large promontory servery which is graced with a magnificent mahogany stillion. This has five etched mirror-backed bays on each side, carved wooden pillars separating the bays, and a coved top. A dumb waiter placed at its end is now disused. The bar counter is original, with decorative pilasters and fielded panelling with arched tops. Unfortunately the counter top was replaced in the refurbishment, and the counter painted dark blue. Tell-tale key holes in the counter front show where hinged panels would have allowed access to the beer engines. At the rear of the servery is a doorway to private quarters, framed and surmounted by an elaborate mahogany structure which matches the bar-back, but is sadly painted blue.
On the left-hand side of the pub a blue painted wooden screen with fielded panelling and framed openings above partially separates that part of the lounge into two distinct areas. That at the front has a fireplace with a carved wooden surround, while the area behind has an ornate wood surround and tiled fireplace, and contains a stately staircase to the first floor lit by stained glass windows. Beyond this and through a wide opening is a large former billiard room with its skylight blocked in, now used as a pool room. There’s an attractive glass fronted cabinet at the back containing sporting trophies.
Large corner-site ex-Charrington pub of two floors, constructed of red brick with some glazed tiling on the ground floor wall. The pub name is depicted in bas relief terracotta on the first floor corner facing. The first recorded licensee is in 1905 when the pub was probably newly built by Saville Brothers brewery of Stratford, who were taken over by Charringtons in 1925. An off licence was originally located at the far left hand side of the Forest Road elevation, but is now subsumed into the main pub area.
The corner door is signed as the public bar; an unused door on Palmerston Rd led to a saloon bar to the right of the public bar, but this is now a single room. The unused door has etched/cut glass screens to either side that look original, and are probably remnants of a vestibule entrance to the saloon bar. Tiled fireplace at the back of the room.
The servery sits between the public/saloon bar and the lounge bar. The bar back is original mahogany, with five mirror-backed bays on both the public/saloon and lounge bar sides, carved wooden posts separating the bays, and concave wooden frame at the top. Lower shelving lost to fridges. An original dumb waiter is at the end of the bar back, now disused and containing drinks bottles, etc. The bar counter also looks original, with extravagant pilasters and fielded panelling with arched tops. The bar counter top in both rooms has light brown inlaid linoleum or a similar material. Tell-tale key holes in the counter front show where hinged panels would have allowed access to, and servicing of, the beer engines.
The public bar has matchboard panelling on the dado, but now painted cream. A wall separates the public bar from the lounge bar to the left, with a normal sized doorway in it, and both the door and entranceway look to be relatively modern additions. Also separating the public bar from the lounge bar is a large baffle (approx six feet high rising from the bar counter, and the total width of the counter) adjoining the separating wall, containing etched/cut glass panels with arched tops.
Behind the servery is a door leading to the kitchen and private rooms, framed and surmounted by mahogany surrounds in the same design as the bar back, and with a mirror backed bay to either side.
To the left part of the lounge a cream painted wooden screen with fielded panelling and framed openings to the upper parts separates that part of the lounge into two distinct areas. The area on the left has a plain fireplace, while the area on the right has an ornate wood surround and tiled fireplace, and staircase to the first floor.
Behind the lounge is a large ex-billiard room with the skylight blocked in, now used as a pool room. There is an antique cabinet at the back containing sporting trophies.
Lord Palmerston, Walthamstow