George And Dragon Public House And Signpost

Public house built 1929–31 for the Birkenhead Brewery Company. The George and Dragon is a "Road House" type building designed in the manner of an Elizabethan manor-house, occupying a prominent site between Liverpool Road and Parkgate Road, facing the north end of Upper Northgate Street in Chester.

The exterior is constructed of sandstone-dressed brown brick with a timber frame and plaster panels, topped with a red tile roof. The symmetrical front elevation to Upper Northgate Street features apron steps leading to a timber-framed gabled porch on a stone-dressed brick plinth. The porch has framed and boarded Tudor-arched oak double doors with small leaded lights. On either side are canted 8-light mullioned and transomed stone windows with leaded glazing. Above the porch is a timber-framed recessed balcony with 5-light leaded oriels in close-studded bays on each side. The south roof pitch sweeps down to the balcony. Each bay on this level extends to a third storey, jettied on consoles and featuring a 3-light casement, close studding and braced panels, all set beneath jettied front gables with ornate bargeboards and drop finials.

The east face to Liverpool Road has a stone-dressed brick ground floor containing two 3-light mullioned and transomed leaded casements, a brick-nogged timber-framed entrance bay with framed and boarded oak double doors and a damaged leaded overlight, a coved jetty to the projecting bay above, and three 3-light mullioned and transomed leaded casements. A double doors in a stone case bears a panel inscribed "George and Dragon", with a leaded slit window adjacent. The first floor features a stone jetty with carved corbels, close studding, and ornately framed jettied gables flanking the entrance bays.

The north face to the car park shows a brick ground floor with stone-capped plinth, two framed and boarded doors, a 2-light leaded casement and four small leaded windows. A one-storey west wing has three small windows between two framed and boarded doors, with exposed eaves rafters. The first floor of the main block has a stone jetty, close studding, a tall 3-light landing window, a small window and two 2-light casements, all with leaded glazing. A pair of gables each feature a 4-light leaded oriel on a console with a saltire panel to each side, a jetty and herringbone struts above.

The west face to Parkgate Road exhibits a close-studded end bay to the 1-storey wing, stone steps with wrought-iron rails leading to a cellar expressed as an undercroft, and a timber-framed open gallery between the 1-storey north wing and a short 1-storey south wing. The gallery is supported on a bearer beam carried by four S-braced posts and provides access between the lounge to the south and the bars to the north. Behind the gallery stands a stone-dressed brick gabled bay. A wrought-iron rail with shaped oak posts runs along the gallery, with close-studded upper storeys on each side of the gabled bay. Mullioned, transomed and mullioned leaded windows feature armorial panels. Rainwater heads are dated 1931, appearing on the north end and three on the west face. The east and west sides each have parallel roofs with two shaped stone chimneys symmetrically placed.

The interior could not be fully inspected, though modern furnishings are evident. Stone fireplaces, the main structural frame and strapwork ceilings are believed to remain largely intact.

A subsidiary feature is a free-standing timber post with chamfered edges and wrought-iron frame for the inn sign. The sign, formerly positioned on a traffic island to the south, has been removed.

Externally, this is an excellent example of a Road House from the late 1920s to early 1930s, well-composed, consistently detailed and largely intact. The architect has not yet been identified.