Pub Heritage Bath Hotel
South Yorkshire - Sheffield: Central
Three star - A pub interior of exceptional national historic importance
Listed Status: II
66-68 Victoria StreetSheffield: Central, City Centre
S3 7QL
Tel: (0114) 249 5151
Real Ale: Yes
Nearby Station: Sheffield
Station Distance: 1300m
Public Transport: Near Railway Station (Sheffield) and Bus Stop
Bus: Yes
View on: Whatpub
The Bath Hotel is an unusually complete example of a Sheffield corner public house, which retains, in almost complete form, the 1931 plan and fittings.
The Bath Hotel occupies the sharp-angled corner of a mid-Victorian terrace, close to the eponymous (Glossop Road) baths. Acquired by the Burton brewers Ind Coope in 1920, it was remodelled and extended next door by them in 1931 and, except for the loss of its off-sales (hence one disused outside doorway), its layout and fittings are scarcely altered since. The lounge snug on the corner is a real delight, with simply-patterned leaded windows, curving leatherette bench seating and hole-in-the-wall hatch to the servery. The larger main bar has some original fitments too, whilst the angled corridor, with its service opening for stand-up drinking, is just as it ever was. The Bath was statutorily listed in 1999 following casework by CAMRA and a sensitive refurbishment two years later won it a prestigious national Pub Conservation Award (awarded jointly by English Heritage, the Victorian Society and CAMRA).
The Bath Hotel is an unusually complete example of a Sheffield corner public house, which retains, in almost complete form, the 1931 plan and fittings.
On the end of a mid-Victorian terrace (1867) and is set in the sharp angle between two streets. At one time it appears to have doubled as a grocers and a beerhouse. The first recorded use of the name 'Bath Hotel' was in 1908 coming from the nearby Glossop Street Baths built in 1836. Ind Coope bought the pub in 1920 and remodelled the interior in 1931 (James E.Knight & Co. for Messrs Ind Coope & Co.Ltd.) extending the pub part into what presumably had been the grocers. By 1930, this had become living quarters. What we have today is scarcely altered since 1931 apart from the loss of the off-sales (hence the disused doorway on Victoria Street) but the space remains and is used for storage. Note the raised lettering, 'The Bath Hotel' set within a painted panel on the apex side above the stained and leaded 'Bath Hotel' exterior window, and on Victoria Street side a 'Tetley Heritage Inn' plaque.
The public bar has a vestibule entrance with a dado of inter-war yellow and brown tiling and quarry tiled floor but the inner door is missing. It retains the counter installed in 1931 with a front that is unusual in that it is faced with orangey-brown tiles and also has leaded glazing above. It retains its original seating of two large bays with a low glazed screen on top of where the seating meets and a 1930s brick fireplace.
A door leads into a corridor that runs to the door on Convent Way and retains its original black and white floor tiling and more inter-war yellow and brown tiling on the dado on one side - on the opposite side some of the tiles have been painted over. Off the corridor the door to the servery has a '2' on it and a small service counter. The shelf on one wall indicates that customers still partake in very traditional passageway drinking. The former ladies toilet opposite the bar is now a small kitchen and the passage continues to the new toilets with a modern tiled dado.
In the sharp angle of the streets is the triangular shaped smoke room with the figure '1' on the door, more original fixed seating which until 2001 did have the makers 'Lawn & Howarth of Blackpool' tags (two tags in the bar have the name now rubbed off). The fireplace is of glazed brick, cast iron and with a wood surround and coal fire. There is a baffle / screen with glazed panel situated at the end of the seating by the hatch servery that has a leaded window above.
The pub had a refurbishment in late 2001 and the work is a model of its kind - it won the CAMRA/English Heritage 2003 Pub Design Award for conservation. The place was cleaned and decorated, the green paint stripped off some of the tiles in the corridor and everything brought back to pristine order. The floor in the larger bar was laid with new diamond shaped brown and cream tiles, the previous tiled floor having become unsound.
