White Hart, Hull

This former Hull Brewery house was rebuilt in 1904 (architects Freeman, Son & Gaskell) and well-appointed in the manner of a smaller Edwardian drinking ‘palace’. Although Edwardian character was eroded from the pub’s back parts by remodelling in the 1970s, it is beautifully preserved in the front bar - an outstanding room that has all its original wood-panelling and bench seating a fine mahogany bar back-fitting with impressive glazed-towered cupboards and, spectacularly, a rare ceramic-fronted bar-counter (almost identical to the one at Garden Gate, Leeds, by Burmantofts). Only fourteen remain in the whole of the UK and a further such counter from is to be found at another Hull pub, the Polar Bear on Spring Bank.

Other Heritage Pubs with a ceramic bar counter are the Black Horse, Preston, Lancashire; Burlingtons Bar (at the Town House), St Annes on Sea, Lancashire; Mountain Daisy, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear; Red Lion, Erdington, Birmingham; Polar Bear, Hull, East Yorkshire; Garden Gate, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire; Golden Cross, Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales; Crown, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Other examples can be found at Horse & Jockey, Wednesbury, West Midlands where a small part on the left has been lost; Castle, Manchester City Centre; Hark to Towler, Tottington, Greater Manchester where the bar has been moved; Waterloo Hotel & Bistro, Newport, Gwent, Wales which has no public bar facility; and there is one in China Red which was the Coach & Horses, Dunswell, East Yorks and now operates as a Chinese Restaurant.

The entrance lobby too has original doors and floor tiling. (Note: the back room boasted its own ornate, ceramic counter too - until the 1970s). What a pity the rear parts of the pub have been opened up.