The Margaret Catchpole Public House

The Margaret Catchpole Public House is a public house built in 1936 by Harold Ridley Cooper of Ipswich for the Cobbold Brewery. It features red-brown brick construction with a hipped plain tile roof, prominent brick ridge, and lateral stacks, most of which have diagonally set clustered stacks with corbelled caps.

The building has a double-depth layout, consisting of two public rooms separated by an entrance and off-sales area at the front, and a fan-shaped lounge at the rear, all in a Vernacular Revival style.

The front elevation is single storey with an attic and has a four-window range that includes single and three-light wooden mullion and transom windows with leaded lights. To the left, there are two three-light hipped dormers. The wide principal doorway on the right has a moulded brick surround and double doors leading to a central lobby with three doorways beneath glazed overlights. Single-storey projections with hipped roofs and further doorways are located at either end of the central range.

At the rear, the building is canted to overlook bowling greens, featuring wide multi-light bow windows of mullion and transom design on either side of a verandah, which has an oversailing roof supported by circular brick piers. Additional doorways and hipped dormers are present on each roof facet.

Inside, the public bar on the left has modified linenfold and plain fielded panelling, a bolection-moulded fireplace with a mirror overmantel, and herringbone wood-block flooring. The streamlined bar counter has contemporary shelving at the back. The bar on the right features a quadrant-shaped bar counter, a fireplace, and panelling similar to that of the other rooms.

This public house is well-preserved and almost unaltered since its construction in 1936, retaining its original plan form and most of its contemporary fittings. Its detailed architecture and interior make it stand out among surviving inter-war public houses.