Sportsman Inn

The Sportsman Inn is a public house, originally dating to the early 18th century, and substantially refronted in 1904. Designed by W H D Horsfall for Thomas Ramsden & Sons, it is constructed of ashlar with a slate roof, and exemplifies a Baroque Revival style. The building is two storeys high and has four windows. The ends feature rusticated pilasters with dated cartouches on low cornices. The main entrance, centrally positioned in the second bay, has block rustication to the pilasters supporting a segmental pediment, with the left-hand space below blocked by a stone plinth and a mosaic panel that originally displayed "SPORTSMAN HOTEL" in an Art Nouveau decorative frame, beneath an obscured glass light on a shaped sill. To the right of the entrance, Doric pilasters with entasis frame steps leading to double-panelled doors. The pediment contains a high-relief painted panel depicting a gundog and a kneeling huntsman aiming a rifle among trees. A single window sits to the left of the door, and two windows are recessed on plinths to the right, each featuring mullions and transoms within segmental-headed surrounds. The windows have a sill string, impost string, and moulded heads with multiple keys. The cornice breaks to enclose the entrance pediment and projects forward over the end pilasters. The first-floor windows also have mullions and transoms, set within lugged and shouldered architraves resting on a bracketed sill string; triple keys step up to a top entablature which breaks forward slightly over the central bay, defined by rusticated pilasters. A modillioned cornice runs across the front gable, above an arched window and prominent eaves, with a flat stone coping rising to a blocking course above the entablature. Other bays have flat-headed three-light dormers. Later 20th-century lighting fittings are present, including a rectangular neon strip around a window and floodlights on the fascia. The rear front is rendered and painted, with irregular fenestration and raised quoins. It has an off-centre doorway and windows with raised plain ashlar surrounds, the right-hand windows being paired. The interior features a lobby with a mosaic floor, brightly coloured faience wall panels, and panelled inner doors. The space is divided into several small rooms with panelling, stained glass, and ribbed ceilings with varnished paper. A lounge to the right of the entrance has oak panelling and original fitted seats.