Orford Hotel, Orford

Built 1908 in buff terracotta by Wright & Hamblyn for Greenall Whitley Brewery Company. It retains much of original floor plan of six rooms; good glass and tiling.

On the right is a vestibule entrance where the door has ‘Outdoor Department’ in an etched and frosted panel and in front of you is an intact screened off-sales with rising hatch (now out of use). Only part of the partition that separated the off-sales from the bar remains and the public bar door is now out of use. Public Bar has an original panelled bar counter with brackets that has been moved slightly to the left but the bar back is modern (but the cabinet could be old). Original fixed seating remains with a substantial baffle at the left end and elaborate arms including a circular section around the bay window. The tiled floor is new and it has lost its fireplace. There is a modern vestibule to the gents on the right. A doorway leads to another room at the rear which is served via a hatch to the back of the servery but has no old fittings. A passage down the rear of the pub has another hatch and a small alcove opposite which has modern seating.

The left-hand front door has a vestibule with ‘Lounge Hall’ etched and frosted panel in inner door with a figure ‘1’ on the back of it leading to the lobby bar. This has a bar counter and back added in the 1970s but the fixed seating looks original. Note the row of Art Nouveau tiles at dado level throughout the passageway. The front left room has original seating but a replacement fireplace. The rear left room has original fixed seating but the fireplace has been lost.

Doorway and curtain to lounge hall where fixed seating is not so elaborate as in the two bars so could be inter-war work. Gents on the left is intact with a ‘Lavatory’ etched panel in the door, red tiled floor, original urinals and some original dado tiling and other tiling has been painted over