The White Swan Public House

The White Swan public house was built in 1899-1900 by James and Lister Lea for Ansells Brewery. It is constructed of red brick and terracotta, the terracotta likely originating from Hathern Station, produced by the Brick and Terracotta Company of Loughborough, and has a slate roof with coped gables, terracotta dentilled eaves, pierced ridge tiles, and brick axial and gable end stacks.

The building occupies a corner site, with a public bar accessed from both Bradford Street and Birchall Street. The layout includes a passage to a smoke-room, an outdoor area, and a staircase. It is designed in a Jacobean or Flemish style.

The building is two storeys and an attic. The Bradford Street elevation has four bays, with bays two and four featuring Dutch gables. A canted corner incorporates a terracotta oriel above the entrance doorway. To the right, along Birchall Street, are three bays; the left bay is Dutch gabled, and the right is a plainer two-storey range. The terracotta ground floor is panelled at the plinth. The large bar windows and doorways have cable-moulded arrises. The central doorway on Bradford Street is topped with a segmental pediment on consoles within the entablature. Bar windows feature leaded panes and stained glass. The recessed first-floor canted bays have pulvinated friezes and ogee lead canopies, with simple light windows and cornices. Attic windows have cornices and aprons, are set into Dutch gables with flanking finials, pendants, and aedicules at the apex with semi-circular pediments. A pedimented dormer sits between the gables on the Bradford Street front.

The interior features good Minton tiled flooring and friezes in the public bar, passages, stairs, and outdoor area. The public bar also has a tiled ceiling, a panelled front to the bar counter, a pilastered bar back with arched mirrors and balustrade, and a clock above. A partition in the public bar has been removed, but the entrance lobby remains with ceilings lined in Lincrusta paper. Passages have engraved glass in doors, particularly good wall tiling which also lines the stairwell, and the stairwell has a moulded balustrade and newels. The smoke-room incorporates a tiled frieze, a small iron chimney piece, and grate.