The Bartons Arms Public House

The Bartons Arms Public House was built between 1900 and 1901 to the designs of James and Lister Lea for Mitchells & Butlers, situated on a prominent corner location with Potters Lane. It is a three-story building constructed in a restrained Jacobean style. The ground floor is faced with ashlar and features broad, depressed arched three-light windows with inset flanking colonettes. Above the doorway on the south front is a two-story, ashlar canted bay with curved sides, arcaded ground floor lights, cornices, and a strapwork parapet. The upper floors are of red brick, with window bays articulated by pilasters. The first floor has pilastered stone bay windows with leaded swept roofs, while the second floor features thin tripartite windows with sharply swept pediments rising from a cornice, set against the brickwork of the Dutch gables. The ground-floor windows contain fine frosted glass and leaded stained glass, hinting at the grandeur of the interior.

The interior of The Barton Arms is the finest example from the period in Birmingham, retaining a complete suite of spaces including a Public Bar, Saloon-Smoke Rooms, Club Room, Committee Room, and Billiard Hall across two floors. It is lavishly decorated with polychrome Minton tile work, cut and silvered mirrored glass, panelled woodwork, and an ornate cast iron staircase with lamp standards atop the tiled newel posts. Other features include ornate plaster ceilings and Jacobean overmantel fireplaces. The staircase hall displays good pictorial tiled panels, and a large painted glass window depicting a medieval scene of a host entertaining is reset within a naturalistic flower surround. Another fine stained and silvered glass window is located on the half landing of the staircase. The mahogany bar incorporates a good snob screen with engraved glass panels. Bench seating in the Smoke Room, facing a canted bay, has engraved silvered glass above the backrests. The staircase walls are entirely tiled, and the balustrade features bold floral scrolled ironwork. The Club Room, Committee Room, and Billiard Hall on the first floor also boast good quality glass and plasterwork ceilings. The Billiard Hall has a central column with an ornate capital supporting a boss from which radiate panelled beams.

The pub’s intact interior and wealth of tilework make it the best example of its date in Birmingham.