The Never Turn Back public house

The Never Turn Back Public House

This is a post-war public house with Art Deco and Moderne design features, completed in 1956 and opened formally in 1957. It was designed by A W Ecclestone, architect for Lacon's Brewery. The building stands 330 metres north of Caister lifeboat station and 120 metres north of the coastguard cottages and lookout.

Materials and Construction

The building is constructed of red brick with cobblestone detailing. The brickwork is laid in English bond with soldier courses at the cornice and above decorative panels. The roof is flat and overhangs, with asphalt-sheet covering and narrow painted fascias. Low walls around the building are composed of brick and flint cobblestones set into a chequer-board pattern. Ceramic tiles are used in the columns and other decorative elements. Concrete-framed panels contain randomly arranged brick, stone, flint and cobble, as well as pantiles and glass bottle bases.

Plan and Arrangement

The pub has a rectangular footprint with a two-storey block projecting at the centre of the south side. It was built to a simple yet flexible plan with two main bar areas and a central servery. Unusually for the period, there was no requirement for landlord's accommodation.

Exterior Features

The Never Turn Back is single storey with a flat roof and verandahs on three sides (east, south and west), supported by square brick columns with corbels forming the capitals and ceramic tile detailing. Large expanses of windows and glazed doors make up the majority of the building's face on three sides, though the upper window panels to the public bar have been painted over. Separate entrances to the public bar and lounge bar are marked with original glazed doors retaining lettering setting out these bar names. The Public Bar entrance is to the west and the Lounge to the east. Each set of double doors is reached by a set of steps with curved edges, though the western set has now been partly covered with a sloped ramp. The doors are flanked with fluted planters. An additional set of double doors on the east elevation provides access from the lounge to the terrace and gardens. A further set of double doors on the west elevation, now blocked up, previously faced The Lodge. Part-glazed single-leaf doors provide access from each of the main verandahs to the entrance hall and toilets. The north elevation is plain and utilitarian, without windows.

The two-storey block or 'tower' features on each of its three elevations two large concrete-framed panels, one above the other, containing an assortment of pebbles, brick and glass designed to mimic beach-combed materials. Between these, at the centre of each elevation, are rows of small square windows – three on the west, two on the east and two on the south, all lighting the toilets. Those on the south and west sides have now been blocked and painted over, but those on the east remain in use. The window openings are divided by columns of plain tiles. The place of the central window on the south side is taken by a glazed ceramic tile depicting the Lacon's falcon and the central square on the east is formed by a ceramic tile depicting a lifeboat. On the upper part of the south side of the 'tower', the pub's name is set out: NEVER TURN BACK. The pub's name was formerly illuminated by blue neon bulbs, which have now been removed, though their fixings onto the lettering remain. The patchwork of materials which forms the background to the sign has been painted black.

The chimneystack at the south-east corner of the 'tower', serving the basement boiler room, is a particular feature of the pub's external design. It is narrow and deep and decorated with regularly spaced horizontal concrete bands. The chimneystack was originally topped by a statue of the Lacon's falcon and bore lettering on its west face stating 'Lacon's Ales'. On top of the flat roof of the two-storey block there is now a flagpole and an access ladder with metal balustrades at its side. Neither the pole nor balustrades appear in early photographs, so they are additions.

Interior

The interior is divided into three main sections: the public bar, lounge bar and central service section. The interior is now characterised by extensive use of dark wood, such as vertically boarded panels in the Public Bar, and exposed brick. Structural, load-bearing piers break up the space throughout – for instance, dividing the counters into parts – whilst exposed-brick piers are situated around the centre of each bar room.

At the centre of the pub are the entrance hall, servery and toilets, these last located on the ground floor of the two-storey block. The servery forms an island in the middle of the pub and to the north of it was a beer store, now converted into a kitchen. A hatch in the Lounge is suggested to have been for off-sales. The pub's basement cellar is reached from behind the servery and has a barrel drop at its north end. It stretches out to the south, beneath the entrance hall, and there is a boiler room beneath the 'tower'.

The right (eastern) part of the pub is taken up by the Lounge, designed to run through the whole depth of the building, though it had no windows on its north side. On the left (west) – similarly filling the depth of the building – is the Public Bar. The north sections of each bar room extended beyond the line of the bar and servery. These inner areas at the north were always partly divided off from the main bar spaces, having partitions at their centres. The openings either side of these partitions were served by sliding doors in the Public Bar and roller shutters in the lounge, as shown on the 1955 plan. The northern section of the Public Bar is now used as a performance space and the folding partition has been removed. That to the Lounge is fully separated and used for storage. The original counter-fronts of the Public Bar replicated the brick and cobble panels on the exterior and are likely to remain under the current vertically-boarded front. Distinctive curved baffles at entrances to both the Public Bar and Lounge are covered with later upholstery, as is the fixed seating in the public bar. Other original features include the doors and window frames, ceiling panels, and the access and barrel ladders in the cellar.

Boundary and Signage

A low boundary wall is located at the entrance to the car park. It makes the same use of material and chequer-board pattern as the verandah walls. Set into the wall is the original freestanding pub sign with decorative ironwork and topped by a falcon – the symbol of Lacon's Brewery, although the current sign board is a replacement.