Marquis of Lorne

A Grade 2 late-Victorian pub with a decorative exterior and some original fixtures and fittings inside. 

Built in around 1880, this substantial corner pub was awarded Grade 2 status by English Heritage in 1981 on account of its strikingly decorative exterior. This includes glazed tiles of gold, brown and green depicting flowers and leaves emerging from a variety of vases. Also in tiling, the name “T. T. Castle” appears above the corner entrance. This was Theodore T. Castle, who took over the running of the pub from his father in around 1900.

The ceiling beams reveal that the pub was once divided into four rooms plus a small jug and bottle area. The latter was still there in the 1970s, as confirmed by a member of staff. A full-height screen, less its door, still separates the former public bar from the rest of the interior.

The servery occupies its original Victorian location and within it is a tiny publican’s office that still contains a fitted desk which is probably a surviving Victorian feature. Some old windows remain and they contain strips of lead glass tinted yellow. All along the floor at the base of the bar counter is an attractive band of buff and red tiles; built into it, a very old wooden foot rest survives in the area that was originally the public bar. Old gas lamp fittings still protrude from the bar back. Two of the three fireplaces have what appear to inter-war wooden surrounds.

Both vestibule entrances are modern.  The counter top and some of the lower shelving in the bar back are also modern.

The pub is the last remaining pub owned by Conway Taverns, which once owned over thirty pubs.