The White Lion Public House

The White Lion Public House is a public house and former hotel dating from around 1800, with later 19th-century additions and early and late 20th-century remodelling. It is constructed of red brick, with a Welsh slate roof to the front and slate and plain cement tile roofs to the rear. Chimneys are located at the ends of the building.

The building's layout includes a range of bars accessed from a central corridor, which leads to a large open area created in the late 20th century. A servery is located in the left-hand portion of the building.

The 1800s road facade is three storeys high, reducing to one and two storeys at the rear. The ground floor has been remodelled in the early 20th century, featuring a central entrance with green glazed brick dado and large windows above containing stained glass. Pilasters flank the entrance, each terminating in consoles incorporating a lion’s head. A late 20th-century fascia displays the pub’s name. The second and third floors have four two-light sash windows each, with those on the second floor having stone lintels. The rear includes a one-storey range with an attic, under a separate roof which likely represents the earliest phase of the building. At a right angle to this is a two-storey 19th-century wing extending further back, containing sash windows. A one-storey 20th-century toilet block is also present.

The interior features a small entrance lobby leading to an expanded corridor area with a servery and doors to the bars and a “private smoke room”, the designations indicated in the etched glass of the doors. A hatch connects the lobby to the bar. A white and blue tiled dado runs along the corridor walls. To the right of the corridor, beyond the smoke room, are separate 1920s snugs, fitted with clear glazing screenwork.

The site has been an ale house since at least 1781, originally located some distance from the road. Between 1877 and 1884, the front of the building was brought forward to the road. The present frontage and much of the interior decoration and fittings date from a 1920s remodelling by the brewers Duncan Gilmour, whose monogram appears in the glass.

The public house demonstrates the development from an 18th-century beerhouse to a pub-cum-hotel in the early 20th century. It retains much of its late 19th/early 20th-century layout and fittings.