The Hare And Hounds Public House

The Hare and Hounds Public House is a public house dated 1907, designed by Samuel Owen of Owen & Ward, with some minor alterations from the 20th century. It is located on a corner site and constructed of red brick with red terracotta dressings and a tiled roof, featuring a polished granite plinth. The building has a rectilinear plan, stands three storeys high, and has five windows. The central gable is rendered and includes timber-framing, displaying the name 'Hare and Hounds' and the date 1907. The windows are primarily casements with multi-paned upper lights.

A prominent polygonal corner bay extends the full height of the building, featuring mullioned and transomed windows across all three storeys, culminating in an octagonal turret with clock faces and a lead dome. The High Street elevation includes entrances to the former outdoor department and the bar, while the York Street elevation showcases a three-storey range with a blocked entrance featuring a red terracotta pediment and overlights, alongside a two-bay, two-storey range with bay windows. An attached gabled range to the left displays mock timber-framing in the gable and a box oriel at the first-floor level, with arched openings below that have been altered.

Inside, the public house has undergone some alterations, resulting in the loss of partitioning, but it still retains an elaborate interior featuring a mahogany bar counter, an ornate mirrored bar-back, walls with full-height glazed tiling, and fixed upholstered seating. The York Street entrance leads to a hall adorned with full-height glazed tiling featuring Art Nouveau designs, and a curved mahogany screen with coloured leaded glass. The tiling continues up the stairwell and along the corridor to a function room, which boasts a barrel vault ceiling with embossed plaster ribs, a plaster frieze, pilasters, and garlands.

The Hare and Hounds is listed as a well-detailed and substantially intact example of an early 20th-century urban public house, notable for its elaborate and well-preserved interior, complete with contemporary furnishings, fixtures, and decorative elements.