Shakespeare Public House

The Shakespeare Public House is a public house of 1926, built for Magee Marshall, a brewer from Bolton. It was altered slightly in the late 20th century. The building is constructed of red brick and buff terracotta, with a roof covered in Delabole slate. It features side wall and mid-pitch stacks with diagonally-set shafts. The architectural style is Neo-Tudor.

The building occupies a corner site with entrances on Albert Road and Glynn Street, resulting in a roughly square plan with principal bar areas extending from a central drinking lobby.

The Albert Street elevation has three bays and two storeys. The central bay features a wide, cambered, arch-headed double doorway with a 4-pane overlight containing diminutive mullions. The doors are half-glazed plank double doors. Above the doorway is a 3-light mullion and transom window, topped by a shallow stepped parapet. Wide, canted mullion and transom bay windows flank the entrance at ground floor level. Above these are 5-light windows with leaded lights, set below deeply projecting timber-framed gables featuring decorative barge boards and corbelled struts which support the gable tie beams. The Glynn Street elevation has a slightly advanced central entrance bay beneath a timber-framed gable, with a doorway integrated into a four-light mullion and transom window. Above is a 3-light mullion window. Flanking the doorway are 6-light mullion and transom windows, with matching 6-light first-floor openings above.

The interior retains its original layout, with the main access from the Albert Street entrance leading into a central drinking lobby and a bar counter with a panelled fascia and canopy. This lobby gives access to separate bar areas, including a Commercial Room, News Room, and Lounge Bar, all with original fittings and fixed furniture, half-glazed panelled doors, decorative glass, and oak panelling. The Lounge and Commercial Room contain fireplaces with panelled overmantels. The News Room has a bar counter with a panelled fascia and flanking pilasters. An off-sales area has a glazed and panelled servery. At the first floor level is a fully-panelled Function Room, which retains bell pushes for waiter service.

The public house is exceptionally well-preserved and retains the original hierarchical arrangement of rooms leading from the central drinking lobby, alongside many contemporary fittings and fixtures. The Neo-Tudor detailing is applied consistently throughout the design, both externally and internally, utilizing a varied palette of high-quality materials. Such complete interiors from the inter-war period are now rare.