The Pestle And Mortar Public House

The Pestle and Mortar is a public house dating from 1917, designed by HC Scaping of Grimsby for Hadley’s Brewery. It is constructed of brick with composite stone facing to the ground floor and imitation timber-framing and plaster infill to the upper floors, all beneath a slate roof. The building is in a Tudor Revival style, displaying ornate West Midlands-style timber framing.

The exterior is three storeys high, with three bays on the first and second floors. The ground floor has four openings divided by plain rectangular piers. The right-hand entrance features a recessed two-fold door, partly glazed with a Tudor arch, above which is a leaded-pane overlight with three cinquefoiled lights. To the left are three recessed panels, each containing a three-light window with boldly moulded sills and cinquefoiled lights, all with leaded glass. The outer lights have two glazing bars while the central lights contain stained glass with heraldic motifs. Above this is a full-width half-timbered frieze containing a 20th-century name board. A modillioned jetty provides projection on the first floor, incorporating a carved frieze. The upper storeys feature full-height canted bays topped with a modillioned cornice and coped parapet – also canted. The wider central bay, flanked by herringbone timbered panels, contains four-light windows to each storey. The side bays, flanked by timber-framed pilaster strips, contain three-light windows. All windows have cinquefoiled lights and leaded glass incorporating stained-glass heraldic motifs, with decorative framed panels above and below the windows containing quatrefoil and cross motifs. The parapet has similar framing with relief-carved shields at the top of the pilasters, bearing various Grimsby Arms.

The interior consists of a staircase hall and large single rooms on each floor. These rooms feature 17th-century-style wall panelling with a modillioned cornice, panelled internal porches with Tudor-arched doors, and panelled ceilings with moulded foliate cornices. The staircase hall contains an open-well cantilevered staircase with carved newels, panelled string and column balusters, and a large circular roof light with radial glazing and tinted glass. This is an extremely well-preserved early 20th-century public house with all its original internal features intact.