Eagle Inn and Attached Dwelling

Public House and attached dwelling, dated 1902. Located at 17 Collier Street, Salford.

The Eagle Inn is constructed in red brick with terracotta dressings and slate roofs featuring decorative ridge tiles. Three gable chimney-stacks rise from the building. The structure comprises an L-shaped plan for the public house and a rectangular plan for the dwelling, both fronting onto the street.

The public house displays Edwardian Baroque styling and stands two storeys over cellars. A deep plinth with chamfered top runs across the base. The façade is organised as a three-bay symmetrical composition with a central entrance. The original door is partially glazed with etched glass panels, set within a timber screen that includes etched glass panels and semi-circular and radiating glazing bars to the overlight above. The first and third bays contain recessed canted bay windows with partially etched glass and semi-circular and radiating glazing bars to the upper part of the central lights. A first-floor string course runs horizontally across the façade. The central bay above the entrance projects slightly at first-floor level and displays a terracotta plaque depicting an eagle with the name EAGLE INN inscribed beneath. Above this is a shallow two-light window. The first and third bays are fenestrated with two-light mullioned windows. A date of 1902 appears on the rainwater head, though this may indicate the date of re-facing of an earlier building. The parapet features a shaped-gable centre with ball and finial decoration. Full-height quoins run along the outer edge, but only at first-floor level on the side adjoining the dwelling, suggesting the dwelling may originally have been single-storey.

The attached dwelling stands two storeys and continues the deep plinth of the public house. It features a door with overlight to the right and a two-light mullioned window to the left of the ground floor. A first-floor string course is interrupted by a two-light mullioned window to the left and a single-light window positioned above the door.

The interior retains its original three-room layout. The entrance opens into a drinking lobby, with doors to the right leading to the parlour and the tap room to the rear. To the left of the bar is a third, larger bar room. The drinking lobby preserves a ceramic dado and its original panelled bar counter with reeded jambs supporting screens featuring fixed glazing bar lights and semi-circular overlights above the serving hatch. The parlour and large bar room contain fixed upholstered seating, picture rails, and moulded cornices, while the tap room features a timber panelled dado and picture rail. Other original fixtures include a small Art Nouveau chimneypiece in the large bar room, moulded door surrounds, and panelled doors. The bar counter in the large bar room has been altered. The dwelling interior was not inspected.

The Eagle Inn represents a rare surviving example of a late 19th-century back-street public house, a building type that was once common in urban areas but is now increasingly uncommon. The building forms a group with the public baths opposite, designed by Thomas Worthington. The Eagle Inn retains much original interior detail and, together with its integral dwelling, demonstrates the substantial investment made by the local Holts' Brewery in the construction and fitting-out of public houses across the Salford and Manchester neighbourhoods, with both exteriors and interiors finished to a high standard.