The Dolphin Public House

The Dolphin Public House is a public house dating from approximately 1850, with possible earlier origins, and remodelled around 1900 or slightly earlier on the ground floor. It is constructed of stock brick with white painted quoins and dressings, and the roof is hidden behind a parapet. The building has a square, broadly symmetrical plan, including a projecting staircase and a former pothouse at the rear.

The five-bay facade is three storeys high, featuring a heavy cornice and frieze beneath the parapet, which is ornamented with a balustrade and urns. The windows are sash windows without glazing bars, set within aediculed surrounds; those on the first floor are topped by alternating round-headed and triangular pediments supported by brackets. The granite pub frontage has timber windows with large opaque panes over smaller round-headed toplights. A tripartite window fronts the building, with doors at either side.

The interior is dominated by a central bar with a decorative bar back featuring a dolphin motif, largely remodelled around 1900. A 1931 plan shows the interior divided into four areas: a public bar and saloon at the front on either side, a dining room and a lounge at the rear. The dining room remains, separated by a timber and glass screen depicting dolphins in coloured glass. The former lounge has been partially incorporated into the saloon and subdivided to create ladies’ lavatories, with later timber panelling. A pothouse, shown on the plan, is located behind the lounge, adjacent to a staircase notable for its elaborate 19th-century turned balusters. The bars have boarded ceilings with Jacobean-style timber mouldings. Blockwood flooring with tilework to the side is present in the saloon. The tiled side walls feature a repeated pattern of birds and foliage in blue, with blue surrounds over a brown and green dado, extending into the ladies' lavatory. Painted panels are located above more elaborate coloured tiled dados at the entrances. A large painting in the saloon depicts Airon summoning a dolphin to his rescue, and was painted by W B Simpson and Sons. Timber screens with coloured glass depicting dolphins are positioned at the entrances.

The building’s significance lies in its exceptionally well-preserved public house interior of around 1900, characterized by its tilework and coloured glass, within a mid-19th century building retaining a distinctive Italianate facade. W B Simpson and Sons, noted decorators and suppliers of wallpapers and tiles who expanded into the pub trade, were responsible for the interior decoration; their work is comparable to that found at the Princess Louise in High Holborn.