Coach & Horses public house, 350 Eccles New Road, Salford

Coach & Horses Public House

The Coach & Horses is a public house situated at 350 Eccles New Road, Salford. It is built of red brick with stone dressings and has a tiled roof, largely hidden from view behind the parapet. The building is reverse L-shaped with principal elevations facing Eccles New Road to the south-west and a car park to the south-east.

The front elevation to Eccles New Road is of three bays, set upon a stone plinth. At the centre of the ground floor is a doorway with a stone surround incorporating flanking columns set upon carved bases and a segmented pediment supported by paired, carved consoles with a recessed tympanum containing carved decoration. The doorway contains a six-panel door with raised pyramidal lower panels and a stained-glass overlight above. The two outer bays contain large, recessed canted bay windows set within flush surrounds incorporating segmental-arched stone heads with carved consoles acting as keystones and a decorative bay-leaf band to the lower part. The windows appear to be of painted cast-iron with slender mullions and decorative capitals, dentil bands, and stained-glass upper panels incorporating Art Nouveau-style designs. The lower panels are much larger and incorporate later decorative frosted glass. Two slender stringcourses run into the window heads in the style of continuous hoodmoulds and carry around to the south-east elevation. The first floor has three windows with replaced glazing; those to the outer bays are larger. Each window has a stone head composed of voussoirs with a decorative, carved keystone and is set between two stringcourses. The roof is hidden from view by a parapet topped by a dentil cornice.

The north-west elevation is blank with no openings and has near full-height brick buttresses. Modern gold lettering signage reading "COACH & HORSES" exists to the far right of the elevation.

The south-east elevation faces a car park (originally it faced a short street lined with terraced houses known as Robinsons Buildings). The elevation is similarly styled to the front and is also of three bays with an additional flat-roofed bay to the ground floor, which projects beyond the rear wall. The main entrance is set to bay 3 and is identically styled to that on the front elevation, as are the three windows to the remaining ground floor bays. The window to bay 2, lighting the Outdoor Department, is slightly narrower. The first-floor window surrounds are also identically styled to those to the front and the windows retain their original glazing, which incorporates slender mullions and stained-glass upper lights. Two later top-hung casement openings have been inserted into the two windows to the right of the first floor. Rising from the centre of the elevation behind the roof parapet is a tall, shaped, brick stack with stone dressings.

Interior

The building is organised internally around an L-shaped corridor and drinking lobby running from the front entrance to the south-east side entrance. There are two entrance vestibules, each with black and white mosaic floors incorporating a Greek key border and "COACH AND HORSES" to the centre. The vestibule walls have a green glazed-tile dado incorporating egg-and-dart bands and a border of yellow tulips. Inner double doors with plain overlights above have brass door protectors, pyramidal raised lower panels and tall, etched and frosted upper panels incorporating "COACH &" to the left door and "HORSES" to the right door. The glazed tile dado found in the entrance vestibules is carried through into the drinking lobby and continues up the main stair to the first-floor private quarters.

The L-shaped drinking lobby has a star-patterned black and white tiled floor and widens out at the rear of the ground floor where it accesses toilets and the Smoke Room. To the centre of the drinking lobby is the bar servery, which is composed of an L-shaped section facing into the lobby with a curved north corner, a further section facing into the Outdoor Department and another section facing into the Vault. The servery consists of a panelled counter with a console-supported top and a timber and glass screen above with upper sashes containing Art Nouveau-style stained glass. The lower sashes have been removed, except in the Outdoor Department where they incorporate etched and frosted glass decoration. A staff doorway exists to the north-west side of the bar servery facing the drinking lobby.

The Lounge is set to the front left, west corner, of the ground floor and retains its original fixed-bench seating with bell pushes and a picture rail with Anoglypta frieze above. The fireplace has been replaced. The room is believed to have originally had a double doorway, which has since been converted into a single doorway with a modern screen and frosted glass panel inserted to the north-eastern side. The doors have been removed.

The Smoke Room is set to the rear right, east corner, of the ground floor and is accessed off the drinking lobby through an angled doorway with an overlight incorporating Art Nouveau-style stained glass. The panelled door has brass door protectors and an etched and frosted upper panel with "SMOKE ROOM" highlighted in gold. The room has dado and picture rails but has lost its original seating.

Off to the left of the south-east entrance vestibule is a panelled door with brass door protectors, a large etched and frosted upper panel incorporating "OUTDOOR DEPMNT", and a plain overlight above. The Outdoor Department (Off-Sales) is a small, narrow room with the same tiled floor as found in the drinking lobby, and a fixed timber bench with an angled back-rest set underneath the south-east window. The bar servery lies to the north-west side of the room with a further shelf to the south-west wall.

Off to the right of the south-west entrance vestibule is a panelled door with brass door protectors, a large etched and frosted upper panel incorporating "VAULT" highlighted in gold, and an overlight incorporating Art Nouveau-style stained glass above. The Vault is located to the south corner of the ground floor and has a geometric-patterned black, white and red tiled floor and retains its original fixed-bench seating and baffles. The bar servery lies to the north-east side. A fireplace that originally occupied the north-east corner has been removed and replaced by panelling.

The main stair is set to the rear left of the drinking lobby and has a bracketed string, turned balusters, and shaped newel posts. A doorway to the left of the bottom of the stair has an etched and frosted upper panel reading "PRIVATE" and leads into the rear left, north corner, part of the ground floor. The basement stair is accessed underneath the main stair. A modern fire exit has been inserted on the stair's half-landing level and the first-floor landing has been boxed-in. The rest of the first floor was not inspected.

Throughout the building, original moulded cornicing, architraves and partly-glazed doors can be found in all the rooms.