The Albion

The Albion

A public house dating to around 1800, with extensions from the late 19th century. The building is constructed of stock brick with stone and stucco dressings.

The property occupies a prominent position on Thornhill Road, with the main building fronting the street and a garden with outbuilding to the rear (east) of the plot. The façade to Thornhill Road comprises ten window bays, including a former stabling block to the south. The principal entrance features a portico set on engaged pilasters with a pair of replacement cast-iron columns. A secondary entrance in the northernmost bay is set within a pedimented surround. The entrance doors are part-glazed, fitted with late 19th-century panes decorated with cut-glass floral motifs. Sash windows are set in moulded surrounds to both floors: multi-paned sashes from the early 1800s light the first floor, while later 19th-century single-pane sashes are positioned at street level. The rear elevation of the main range features an early 19th-century door towards the south end, broad and low with multi-paned glazing to its upper section. To the centre, part-glazed doors open onto the garden, with later 19th-century sashes above. A brick single-storey extension housing WCs at the north end of the rear elevation, dating to the late 19th century, has two external entrances from the garden.

The ground floor plan comprises a front bar occupying the breadth of the original pub across six bays with a short return section to the north, a rear dining area with WCs set to the north side extending into the single-storey projection, and a cellar beneath the main bar accessed from behind the servery.

The interior of the bar room is entered from the central Thornhill Road entrance and opens to a substantial bar space served by a long late 19th-century counter. The counter is divided into paired panelled sections, most with hinged openings to access beer engines. Pendant corbels support the countertop, and the curved ends feature decorative boarded trim with carved bunches of grapes to the pendants on the south side. Matchboard panelling applied to dado level and ceiling lines the front bar room. Marble fire surrounds with fluted lintels and jambs occupy both the north and south ends. The rear dining area contains a moulded cornice and a simple marble fireplace to the south wall. The cellar features a replacement stair, relocated from the east wall to the south wall adjacent to the servery; a blocked early 19th-century door remains visible from the stairs at its original position. Flagstone and brick shelving line the southern hearth foundations and the east wall.

The first floor contains a private dining room directly above the main bar, created from two previously separate rooms, with a timber fire surround to the south wall, simple moulded cornice, dado rails and picture rails throughout. Two offices at the north end feature arched alcoves flanking two blocked fireplaces. A further room used as a staff room occupies the position opposite the upper dining room and retains no historic fittings of note.

A brick outbuilding with double-hipped slate roof stands to the south of the plot, built before 1897 and currently used for storage.