The Craven Arms

The Craven Arms

This is a 19th-century public house that was substantially remodelled between 1906 and 1910. The ornate ceramic façade was added during this remodelling and is attributed to local architect Arthur Edwards, who worked for Holders Brewery.

The building occupies a corner plot with frontages to Blucher Street and Gough Street, and has a roughly L-shaped plan which includes a single-storey range projecting to the north. The structure is set over three storeys plus a cellar. The ground floor is faced with moulded and glazed ceramic tiles, while the upper floors are of red brick. Brown brick at the edges of both frontages indicates where the pub was formerly keyed into adjoining buildings. The windows are timber framed throughout.

The ornate glazed ceramic façade wraps around the south and east sides of the ground floor. It features a moulded plinth and a deep overhanging cornice above a dentil course in dark blue glaze. This surmounts a gold tiled facia displaying the Holders name and branding with blue relief lettering announcing 'Holders Ales & Stout' on both elevations. The south-east corner facia bears the name of the Craven Arms. Both frontages are punctuated by tiled pilasters topped with scrolled capitals and consoles. The square and rectangular tiles around windows and doorways are colour-washed in varying tones of blue. The stallrisers feature panels of ornately embossed tiles.

The principal entrance is set into the south-east corner and consists of a pair of part-glazed doors with etched glass and a leaded top light. A decorative ceramic cartouche with a scrolled pediment is set into the corner brickwork above the doorway, featuring the name of the Craven Arms above a plaque containing the Holders branding. A similar cartouche appears on the first floor of the south elevation.

The ground floor of the south elevation features three large rectangular windows separated by two further part-glazed doors with blocked top lights. Each window features decorative etched glass bearing the name of the Craven Arms, with three leaded stained glass top lights above. Below the central window is a pair of planked doors to the cellar. The first and second floors above each feature three casement windows with top lights divided into smaller panes set with bullseye glass. The first-floor windows have three top lights and projecting moulded lintels, while those on the second floor feature two top lights and flush lintels. The east elevation follows the same style, with two additional windows to the ground floor and individual windows on the first and second floors.

The north elevation is rendered where the adjoining building was demolished, with the end of the ground floor projecting slightly. The first floor features sash windows with glazing bars above a single-storey, windowless brick range.

The interior largely reflects late 20th and early 21st-century remodelling. Entrances lead into an open-plan bar area which features a mirror-backed bar with column supports, timber partitions and a tiled fireplace. A dentil cornice continues to the first-floor function room, where partition walls and fireplaces appear to have been removed. Cornicing and a ceiling rose are present in the principal living room. The brick cellar is vaulted.