Whitelock's Ale House

This public house, with its associated kitchens and stores, dates from the late 17th or early 18th century with later alterations from the late 19th century and early 21st century. The buildings were originally constructed as a row of tenement cottages and were first established as a public house in 1715.

Materials and Construction

The buildings are constructed of painted brick with painted sandstone dressings. The roofs are covered in slate, and unpainted brick chimneystacks survive. The structures are painted throughout.

Location and Plan

The buildings form a long linear range running along the south side of Turk's Head Yard. They are accessed via a narrow alleyway off Briggate to the east and a narrow L-shaped alleyway off Trinity Street to the west. The buildings are surrounded on three sides by adjoining structures.

Exterior Description

The eastern two-thirds of the range rises to two storeys, whilst the western section is of three storeys. The roofs are hidden from view, and most of the range features bracketed eaves. Three ridge stacks survive to the two-storey section.

The Main Public House (Eastern Section)

The main eight-bay section of the pub forms the eastern half of the range. The ground floor displays a series of five large windows—three-light and six-light configurations—framed by pilasters painted black. These windows contain patterned leaded and stained glass. The two three-light windows located towards the eastern end have patterned glazing only to the lower section, incorporating the words "LUNCHEON BAR" and "TURKS HEAD". A plate-glass sash window at the far eastern end features similar patterned glazing with lettering on the lower sash reading "BAR".

Above these windows, running across all eight bays, is a cornice and signage fascia painted black with painted lettering reading: "EST. 1715 WHITELOCKS TURKS HEAD LUNCHEON & SNACKS". Beneath all the ground-floor windows, the brickwork is painted black in the style of a shopfront stallriser.

Two doorways are interspersed between the windows at bays three and five. The doorway at bay five forms the pub's main entrance and has a carved surround incorporating fluted pilasters and carved consoles supporting an entablature above. Both doorways have three-panel doors with mirrored upper panels incorporating painted advertising lettering. Above the main entrance is a decorative cast-iron bracket with a replaced hanging lantern, and further decorative brackets exist along the elevation with modern ball lights.

Round painted wall anchors denote the presence of tie bars installed internally when the pub was extended. The first floor contains a series of seven multipaned casement windows with simple moulded frames and a plate-glass sash window. Affixed to the building at first-floor level and traversing the yard is a large cast-iron sign with stylised gold lettering reading "Whitelocks".

Former Brewhouse and Cottages (Middle Section)

Immediately to the west of the pub lie a former brewhouse and two cottages, now converted internally to a kitchen and stores. The ground floor features a series of windows and doorways. The doorways contain panelled doors with overlights, and the windows, which are painted over, are of varying sizes, including a larger window with external shutters and ventilation grilles. Originally, there appears to have been a single doorway and window to each bay, but one doorway has since been converted into a window.

The doorway to the fourth bay has an engraved overlight with signage lettering reading "E HAWKINS ENGRAVER UPSTAIRS", and one of the other doorways has a door with an integral sash window (now painted over) to the upper section. The first floor contains four multipaned Yorkshire horizontal-sliding sash windows.

Simple cast-iron brackets supporting traditional-style lanterns are affixed to the front wall between the ground and first floors of both this brewhouse/cottage block and the neighbouring three-storey tenement block.

Former Tenement Cottages (Western Section)

The western end of the Whitelock's building range comprises a six-bay, three-storey block containing three former tenement cottages. Like the middle block, the ground floor features doorways with panelled doors and overlights, and windows of varying sizes, some with original segmental-arched heads. One doorway forms the entrance to a bar created in 2015 and has a modern glazed overlight with lettering reading "THE TURK'S HEAD".

The first floor displays a large multipaned casement window, a six-over-six sash window, and a smaller two-over-two sash window. Both sash windows have exposed sash boxes indicative of an early date (Building Acts in 1709 and 1774 required sash boxes to be set back into masonry and brickwork to reduce fire risk). The second floor contains wide casement and Yorkshire sliding sash windows and a blocked-up opening. Later brickwork at the top of the eastern part of the block indicates rebuilding or a raising of the roof to this section.

Interior

Internally, the buildings are now interconnected at basement and first-floor levels, and also across the western half of the ground floor. Some internal stairs have been removed, and others appear to be later replacements.

Main Ground-Floor Bar and Dining Room

The main ground-floor bar and dining room of Whitelock's is a long, narrow space featuring a decorative scheme dating to 1895. Heavy timber ceiling beams exist in part of the space and are supported by a cast-iron column. The walls are panelled and mirrored, with many mirrors incorporating advertisements for food and drink offered in the luncheon bar, as well as manufacturers' advertisements.

Fixed-bench seating runs along the front wall of the entire space and along the rear wall in the dining area at the western end, which was formerly separated from the bar area by a curtain. Panelled and mirrored baffles incorporating barley-twist brass columns, which rise to the ceiling, separate the seating areas and flank the entrances, creating small vestibules. The floor is laid with floorboards, some partly concealed by carpet covering.

Set in front of the rear wall and running for more than half the length of the space is a bar counter with a decorative ceramic-tiled front (probably by Burmantofts)—now a rare survival—and an equally rare survival of a top combining both copper and marble for food and drink servery. The marble-topped section also incorporates brass serving racks with ornate brackets and a glass/pot washing sink. Above is a stained-glass sign reading "LUNCHEON BAR".

Running along the rear wall behind the counter is a mirrored bar back with timber shelving incorporating short barley-twist column supports that echo the brass supports on the baffles. Behind the bar counter is a hatch providing access down into the cellar.

The room's west wall is largely mirrored and incorporates a leaded and stained-glass internal sash window on the far right, which acts as a serving hatch into the neighbouring kitchen and remains in active use. The wall also features a decorative leaded and stained-glass panel reading "LUNCHEON BAR", a smaller version of that over the bar. Originally, there was a chimneybreast and fireplace on this wall, but a chimneybreast was created on the rear wall as part of the 1895 refurbishment and retains its cast-iron fireplace.

Upper Floors

A steep narrow stair in the south-east corner of the bar and dining room leads up to modernised toilets and the first-floor former dining room, which in turn provides access to the rest of the range. The former upper dining room has lost its original fixed-bench seating, which is depicted in a late 19th-century or early 20th-century historic photograph, but retains its panelled and mirrored dado and a large cast-iron fireplace on the west wall with an original mirrored panel above. The simple roof-truss structure depicted in the photograph is now hidden by a later inserted ceiling.

A wide doorway to the left of the fireplace with a simple moulded architrave, which led into a neighbouring room, has been boarded over. A former serving hatch to the right is now a doorway leading to a narrow corridor accessing the entire range. Floorboard floors on this upper level are largely hidden by later coverings, and the spaces have generally been modernised.

Western Tenement Block

At the western end of the range, the three-storey former tenement cottages have been opened up on the two upper floors into a single large space, with the dividing floor removed, a buff-brick internal skin installed to the lower part of the west wall, and a modern concrete support structure inserted. The ground-floor space below has also been opened up and contains a bar with an early 21st-century interior.

The remainder of the ground floor extending down to the main bar of Whitelock's comprises toilets, stores, and a commercial kitchen with a servery hatch into the dining room.

Cellars

The range's cellars are interconnected and have concrete floors. Barrel-vaulted ceilings exist at the eastern end underneath the main bar, along with a barrel drop.