More public houses were built between 1945 to 1985 than in any other period in English history, yet pubs of these years are now highly threatened.
Here, in date order, are 10 great pubs from the ‘golden age’ of post-war pub building.
1. The Festival Inn, Poplar, London
The Festival Inn was the earliest major post-war pub in England.
It opened in May 1951 and formed part of the Live Architecture Exhibition of the Festival of Britain. It was also a focal point in the London County Council’s Lansbury Estate.
With an exterior by Frederick Gibberd and an interior by R. W. Stoddart, architect of Truman’s Brewery, the Festival Inn survives largely unchanged and was listed Grade II in 2017.
2. The Never Turn Back, Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk
Nestled among sand dunes in this holiday resort is the Never Turn Back, a pub named in honour of the Caister lifeboat tragedy of 1901.
This claimed the lives of nine lifeboatmen, who prided themselves on ‘never turning back’ from a vessel in distress.
The pub, opened in 1957 and listed at Grade II in 2018, was designed by Lacon’s Brewery architect A. W. Ecclestone. It has an unusual exterior, with a two-storey tower resembling a lookout or ship’s wheelhouse and decoration in local materials.
3. The Samuel Whitbread, Westminster, London
This building sums up everything typical of post-war pubs in city centres – it was large, ambitious and lavishly fitted out but did not last as a pub for more than 20 years.
The Samuel Whitbread, opened in 1958 in London’s West End, was the ‘flagship’ pub for Whitbread’s Brewery. With a curved glass frontage, the pub had public rooms on four storeys. It closed and was converted into a Burger King restaurant in the 1980s.
4. The Queen Bess, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
Constructed for Samuel Smith’s Brewery, this pub survives almost completely as built in 1959 – a fact recognised by its listing at Grade II in 2018.
The Queen Bess was named after a record-breaking blast furnace at the nearby Appleby-Frodingham steelworks. This theme continued into its interior – the pig iron emblem appears, for instance, on the public bar’s fireplace. Other rooms are the lounge, the ‘Queen’s Bar’ or concert room and the off-sales shop (no longer in use).
5. The Shakespeare’s Head, Islington, London
This small, flat-roofed Courage and Barclay-built boozer of 1960 is one of London’s best surviving post-war pubs and a typical ‘local’ of its time.
It is next to Sadler’s Wells Theatre – the pub’s two bars were originally named the Gallery Bar (public bar) and Ballerina Bar (lounge bar). These have now been opened as a single room, but many original features remain, including bar counters and panelling.
6. The Shakespeare’s Head, Southgates, Leicester
The Shakespeare’s Head – opened in 1963 by Shipstone’s Brewery – is a pub of an unusual horseshoe-shaped design facing the city ring road.
It survives well externally, but its interior presents a sad though typical story among post-war pubs. Until 2016, it survived almost entirely intact, with its original fittings, but these were stripped out as part of its conversion to a restaurant.
7. The Palomino, Newmarket, Suffolk
The Palomino was named and designed to reflect the horse-racing associations of Newmarket.
It was constructed by Tollemache & Cobbold Breweries of Ipswich and opened on 22 November 1963 – the day of President Kennedy’s assassination.
Although the pub has a conventional exterior, it is notable in being a ‘time warp’ inside, with original features including the themed decoration of the ‘Circus Bar’ (public bar). The pub’s still-functioning off-licence is an extremely rare survival.
8. The Centurion, Poolemead Road, Twerton, Bath
A sloped site on the Twerton Estate provided a perfect opportunity for West Country Breweries to design a dramatic pub.
Opened in 1965, the Centurion has huge glass windows on its main floor and decorations ‘themed’ around Roman Bath.
The pub has changed little since it was built, retaining its separate bars and fittings, including counters, a fragment of Roman mosaic flooring and a statuette of Julius Caesar. It was listed at Grade II in 2018.
9. The Wheatsheaf, Heather Ridge Arcade, Camberley, Surrey
The Wheatsheaf, listed at Grade II, is one of the most unusual pubs built in post-war England and reflects the skill of its architects, John and Sylvia Reid.
The pub was opened in 1971 and constructed to a ten-sided wheel-shaped plan, with a soaring single-bar interior arranged around a central brick chimney. Whilst it was an entirely modern conception, the Reids drew their inspiration from Victorian pubs, creating as many cosy corners as possible.
10. The Crumpled Horn, Eldene Centre, Swindon, Wiltshire
Like the Wheatsheaf, the Crumpled Horn is a fantastical design by a talented and unconventional architect – in this case, Roy Wilson-Smith – and has also been recently listed at Grade II.
Opened in 1975, it was one of a few Watney Mann pubs inspired by the nursery rhyme ‘The House that Jack Built’, which refers to the ‘cow with the crumpled horn’. The pub’s multi-level interior is arranged like a nautilus shell and retains its exposed brickwork and timber rafters.
Further reading
Reblogged this on keithbracey and commented:
Post war Britain saw more pubs built in the country than at any other time in history……here’s a canter through 10 of the best…….@CAMRA
I discovered the superb Festival Inn just yesterday, having read about it in a Xmas issue of The London Drinker. I am interested in the Festival of Britain and was therefore delighted to see an almost untouched pub interior of this period. What a pity that there were so few drinkers in it. It deserves to be better know.
No pubs worth mentioning north of Leicester?
What’s the furthest north the author has ever travelled? It appears to be not very far.
I worked in Swindon for 17 years so knew about the Crumpled Horn. However I have lived in Bath for 17 years and never knew about The Centurion! That’s tomorrow’s run sorted!!!