City Tavern Public House

The City Tavern Public House, also known as the Bulls Head, is a public house built in 1901 and internally restructured around 1984. It was designed by James and Lister Lea for Ansells Brewery. The building is constructed of terracotta facing with red glazed brick, and has a Lancashire slate roof. It is of Baroque style and stands two storeys high with attics. The corner site (with a now blocked entrance) has a longer elevation to Bishopsgate Street, featuring paired bar windows with arched heads flanking a door, and two further doors originally leading to a private bar and off-sales. All openings have dropped, keyed heads of the Gibbs type, and a continuous decorative band runs along the first floor. The first floor has seven windows with 2 over 2 sashes, elaborately detailed terracotta surrounds, and glazed brick between. Two dormers with timber casements and broken segmental pediment heads, featuring obelisks on the kneelers and central breaks, are set into the attic storey. The Tennent Street front features a paired bar window, a doorway, and matching windows and a dormer above. The building has two chimney stacks with wreathed tops and three pots apiece. A two-storey, two-bay wing to the right provides access to the kitchen and yard.

The interior was remodelled around 1984 when Ansells sold the pub. The main saloon now has a stained wood bar from 1984 with brass lamps. A screen behind the bar, original to 1901, features a marbled frame, engraved glass, stained wood shelving, and leaded snob screens with hinged lights. There is a hatch leading to the stairhall (from 1901) and a hatch to the pool room (formerly the private bar, dating from 1984). Doorways to external doors at each end of the bar are from 1984. The staircase is steep, with two turned balusters to each head and a stained softwood handrail, and incorporates a lincrusta dado. The pool room retains a 1901 fireplace with an Art Nouveau iron grate and tiled surround, and contains colored wired glass likely from 1984. A first-floor pool room and dining room are reported to exist but were not inspected during the listing process.

Originally, the building was planned to contain off sales, two public bars, a stair hall, and a private bar, accessible via the existing hatch to the hall. In 1984, the partitions between the off sales and public bars were removed, the bar was rebuilt, and openings were created between the hall and the pool room. The first floor likely originally contained a billiard room and a dining room. The exterior remains unaltered, and the interior retains features of interest.