Bull and Gate Public House

Bull and Gate Public House

A public house dated 1871, architect unknown, built in red brick with rendered dressings. The building was constructed on the site of an 18th-century pub that was apparently known as the 'Boulogne Gate', at an important stopping point for travellers entering and leaving London from the north.

The exterior is distinguished by a prominently advanced ground floor housing the public rooms and main entrances. A curved return to the north contains a second door and large windows with decorative transoms (since replaced). Pair of wide arches frame the two main openings; the left arch contains later infill work and formerly housed a shop. This section is richly detailed, featuring heads and leaves in the ionic capitals over marble pilasters, the pub's name spelled out prominently in the frieze, and an eponymous bull and gate relief above the main entrance.

Behind this advanced section, two further storeys rise in red brick with rendered detailing to rusticated pilasters and frieze. The upper storeys contain five window bays with a central elongated Palladian-style window beneath a half-moon plaque announcing 'Bull & Gate 1871'. First floor windows are topped with semi-circular shells, and the brick curves at both corners. A plaque on the north side bears the date, architect and builder names, though it is heavily painted. The side and rear elevations are much plainer and more heavily altered, with 20th-century windows inserted to the rear.

The interior retains much original pub material: a bar counter with pilasters and cornelled brackets, back bar with decorative glass, and cast-iron fluted columns with ornate composite capitals. The original plan form remains largely readable, with front public rooms divided by a partition featuring a Neo-Classical dressed arch. A former billiard room occupies the rear. Notable interior features include strapwork embossed paper ceiling, wide arches with fluted pilasters, Neo-Classical detailing around arches (with alternating small medallions of bulls' heads and vases), pedimented doorcases, hardwood vestibule, grape detailing throughout, a large rear skylight, and a fireplace in the front bar. A pair of wide arches to the rear wall of the main bar comprise one with a later bar extension now projecting from it to the north, and one to the south with a pedimented double door into the rear, now used as a music venue with fewer original features.

A 1904 photograph shows a shop in the end bay and a slightly different window and door arrangement, as well as an openwork parapet along the front range. Minor later alterations have been made since the original construction.