Peacock Hotel

UPDATE 2023

After being closed for nearly three years, the pub reopened in February 2023 following a sensitive refurbishment. In the lounge, the table service has thankfully been retained and the only change, other than redecoration, has been appropriate re-upholstering of the bench seats. 

Please note - the photos are currently of the previous incarnation.

The Peacock is worth a visit to experience something rare - table service - head for the right-hand lounge bar and sit on the bench seating and press one of the large number of bell-pushes mounted in brass plates situated all around the room. A member of staff will respond (not on Fri and Sat evenings) so choose your drinks - real ales are listed on a chalk board near the doorway to the servery - and they will be brought to your table. Until recently, the number of pubs in the country offering table service was down to less than a dozen but the trend has recently been reversed with nearly half of the micropubs being set up in England having no bars.

This three-storey pub of brick built about 1850 appears to have had a quality refit in the inter-war period. The front door leads to an inner lobby with a window that was probably an off sales in the past. The lounge is little altered since about 1930 and retains carved bench seating throughout with turned legs and moulded arms, a couple of draught screens/baffles near the door to the servery, panelled frieze above the seating with wooden studs, terrazzo and wood surround fireplace, and Art Deco-style doors.

The public bar was two rooms in the past and has good-quality fittings such as a bar counter with double columns and capitals but they only date from a refurbishment in 1993. There is what looks like an old glazed publican's office towards the rear of the bar servery.

Note the splendid set of etched windows with a peacock motif - no doubt some are quality replacements.