The Viper public house

The Viper Public House

A late 19th-century public house developed from a pair of cottages and subsequently altered and enlarged in the 20th century, retaining internal features representative of a type of simple evolved public house interior which has become increasingly rare.

The building has a rendered exterior with a roughcast finish, extending from a low brick plinth. It is covered with a slate roof and has tall brick gable chimneys at each end of the central part of the building, which was formed from the original pair of cottages.

The building is linear in form, aligned roughly north-east to south-west. The plan comprises a two-storey, three-bay central range with single-storey lean-to extensions at either end. There have been incremental additions to the rear of the building.

The central range features paired doorways, each fitted with a 20th-century half-glazed door. To the side of each doorway are single eight-over-eight pane sash windows, with matching window openings and frames directly above. Between the upper floor windows is a large rectangular sign bearing the name 'THE VIPER' with an oval panel below bearing a representation of the snake it is named after. The lean-to additions at either end have monopitch roofs which extend to just below the eaves level of the central range. The right-hand extension has a three-light glazing bar casement window whilst that to the left has a half-glazed 20th-century door and a two-light glazing bar casement window. Several 20th-century additions to the rear of the building provide additional service areas, and an extension to the south-west end provides toilet facilities. These structures are excluded from the listing.

The plainly-detailed late 19th and 20th-century interior comprises three main bar areas. The Tap Room on the left-hand side is entered via one of the pair of front doorways and leads to a Public Bar, with a Lounge Bar to the right containing the main bar counter and back bar. The Tap Room retains a small servery hatch and door, and a full-height short partition acting as a baffle screen to the doorway, with plain wooden benches attached to the screen and to the adjacent front wall, and plain horizontal dado boarding. A plain 20th-century brick fireplace stands in the gable wall to the side of the access doorway into the Public Bar within the lean-to extension beyond. This bar area has a small bar counter with plain vertically boarded front and horizontal boarding to the lower section of the walling. The Lounge Bar is entered via the second doorway to the front elevation and contains the main bar counter with a 20th-century square-panelled front, which extends into the lean-to extension to the bar area at the right-hand end of the building. The Lounge Bar has a fireplace with a wide hearth opening set below a shallow brick arch in the original cottage gable wall. The servery areas in the various bars are linked by a service passage at the rear of the public rooms.