Numbers 69 And 71 Street The Old Custom House Inn

Numbers 69 and 71 Watergate Street, formerly known as the Old Custom House Inn, comprise two undercrofts and town houses now combined as a public house. The eastern house dates to 1637 with a probably earlier undercroft; the western house dates to probably the 18th century. The interior and some external features have been altered, and the former Row passage was enclosed in 1711.

The exterior of the eastern house displays coursed sandstone to the lowest storey with timber small-framing and plaster panels above. The western house has a rendered lowest storey with irregularly bonded brickwork above. Both buildings have grey slate roofs. At former Row level and above, the two former houses are separated by a narrow small-framed bay. The eastern house presents a gable to the street and contains an undercroft, two full storeys and an attic. The lower link and the western house have roof ridges parallel with the street.

The undercroft of the eastern house features a boarded beer-drop door with a leaded 5-light transomed window above. A recessed porch on the left has a moulded hood and 5 steps leading up to the bar. A bressumer displays a running vine-leaf and grape panel with initials T W A, and a row of 7 narrow rectangular panels. An oriel chamber window of 7 transomed lights with leaded glazing and cornice is flanked by two rows of 2 arched panels on each side, with 2 small lights to each side of the oriel above the transom. The link bay between the two properties contains 3 rows of 2 arched panels. A jetty on brackets above the oriel has a carved front and the datemark 1637. A row of 11 arched panels runs between the jetty and the tie-beam. A 3-light mullioned casement in the gable has herringbone struts to each side and above, with plain bargeboards.

The western house has a door to the bars on the left with a recessed flight of 6 steps, and two 3-light leaded windows to the right. The second storey displays a plain facia with a tripartite recessed sash of 2;4;2 panes. The third storey has a 4-pane recessed sash. Both storeys feature plain stone sills and gauged brick arches. Chimneys are positioned behind the link between the houses and on each gable of the western house.

A former cottage to Weaver Street behind the eastern house, now rear quarters of the public house, displays late Georgian vernacular character. It has a flush plinth of coursed rubble sandstone, irregular bond brickwork and a grey slate roof. A framed and boarded door is set to the left, with two 16-pane near-flush sashes under cambered brick heads on the ground storey. The upper storey contains 2 half-dormers in inserted gables and a 12-pane unequal sash to the left, with a modern 6-pane gable to the right. The rear gable is rendered. A rendered rear wing is attached to the western house.

The interior structure is largely concealed by later alterations. The coursed rubble sandstone walls of the undercroft measure 4.9 by 10.8 metres and a rear stone staircase survives. The plan of the licensed rooms has been altered, though some oak beams remain. A carved stone fireplace with a Classical surround of painted wood exists in the north-east room. The structure of the upper storeys is stated to be concealed by plaster.