Stanley Arms, Eccles

Stanley Arms, Eccles

A public house of the late 19th century, remodelled around 1910, constructed in red brick with a slate roof and three storeys. Attached to its south-east end is a two-storey former terraced house, also dating to the late 19th century, which has been internally incorporated into the pub.

The building occupies a narrow corner position at the junction of Liverpool Road and Eliza Ann Street. The interior plan is reverse L-shaped, with a drinking lobby and corridor accessed from Eliza Ann Street. The bar and vault are located at the north-west end, while a smoke room and toilets open off the north-east side of the corridor, with an additional room at the south-east end in the former terraced house.

The majority of the ground-floor windows appear to have been altered into their present form around 1910 when the pub was acquired by Joseph Holt's brewery and remodelled, as evidenced by changes in brickwork and styling.

The north-west elevation facing Liverpool Road comprises a single bay with paired ground-floor windows sharing a painted stone sill and lintel with chamfered jambs. Both windows have two multipaned upper lights, though one light in the left window has been replaced by plain glazing and a modern ventilator, and the right window's lower light is etched with the name 'STANLEY ARMS'. Single windows with replaced top-hung casements exist to the floors above and are likely later insertions. Brickwork courses above the first-floor window are painted to imitate a wedge lintel. A splayed corner bay to the left contains a ground-floor entrance with chamfered jambs, partly-glazed panelled doors and a plain overlight, now no longer in use. Single windows styled similarly to those fronting Liverpool Road exist to the two floors above. Above the entrance and the flanking ground-floor return windows are modern signage fascias. An eaves cornice incorporating a saw-tooth brick band continues around to and across the north-east elevation.

The three-bay north-east elevation fronting Eliza Ann Street has similarly styled entrance and windows. The entrance at the ground-floor centre has a panelled door and plain overlight. To its left is a wide window with 'STANLEY ARMS' in etched glass to its large lower light; the three upper lights have lost their multipaned glazing. To the right of the entrance are paired windows, with the left window retaining its etched-glass lower light incorporating the word 'VAULT'. The centre and left bays have single windows to the upper floors with painted-brick lintels, whilst the upper floors of the right bay are blank.

The attached former terraced house forms a three-bay, two-storey structure. It retains its original central doorway with a segmental arched head, plain overlight and four-panel door. A window opening to the left and two to the first floor survive in their original form with painted wedge lintels and replaced top-hung casements. A window opening to the right of the doorway has a sill and lintel matching those to the three-storey part of the pub and is believed to have been altered around 1910. Two further terraced houses originally attached to the south-east side have been demolished, and a later doorway has been inserted into the south-east gable end.

Internally, partly-glazed panelled doors survive throughout, except into the smoke room, which has lost its door. The entrance from Eliza Ann Street leads into a small vestibule and then a reverse L-shaped drinking lobby and corridor running south-eastwards. Both spaces have coved ceilings lined with green glazed-tile dado incorporating Art Nouveau-style decoration. A door off the entrance vestibule has etched decoration incorporating the word 'VAULT'. The vault contains a large polygonal bar counter set to the south corner with a panelled front. Fixed-bench seating survives, along with plain moulded cornicing and a chimneybreast, though the fireplace has been removed. The drinking lobby and corridor is separated from the vault by a bar servery with a glazed timber screen incorporating sliding sashes. An angled doorway at the corner of the drinking lobby opposite the servery leads into the smoke room, which has re-upholstered fixed-bench seating with original bell-pushes (no longer in working order), ceiling coving, and a later fire surround with an electric fire. The drinking lobby is lit by a tall cross window on the south-west side with leaded glazing incorporating Art Nouveau-style stained-glass decoration. Toilets lie off each side of the drinking lobby with glazed-tile dados in white and green with egg-and-dart and Greek-key style decoration and red, black and cream tiled floors. Original urinals survive in the gents.

The ground-floor room in the former terraced house at the south-east end contains fixed-bench seating with later upholstery, ceiling coving and a large cast-iron range surviving from its former use as a residence. A later doorway has been inserted into the south-east wall leading out to a small yard area.