The Royal Oak Public House

The Royal Oak Public House

A corner public house and hotel occupying a site with Sycamore Grove, dating from the later 1880s to mid-1890s, with minor additions and alterations around 1900 and through the twentieth century.

The building is constructed of red brick on the ground floor with stock brick returns, whilst the upper storeys are rendered with applied timber dressings. It has tile roofs and follows an asymmetrical plan rising to two, two-and-a-half, and three storeys in different sections. The composition is dominated by a canted corner bay with a pair of gabled wings to the right, the further wing set forward with deep eaves. A tall gabled left-hand return contains a further entrance.

The principal entrance to the public bar is located at the left-hand corner, marked by a segmental canopy with modillion cornice on paired shafts, sitting on a red brick and rendered base. The canopy shelters a pair of part-glazed doors with fielded lower panels. The ground floor frontage is constructed of finely jointed soft red brick and frames pairs of windows beneath wide segmental arches. The public bar windows themselves are of etched plate glass under scrolled heads with small-paned overlights. The upper canted bay features small-paned sashes at first floor set within flush red brick surrounds that rise as quoins to the upper storey, with window arches formed in soft red brick. Upper floor paired small-paned casements sit between shafts at the angles, while a modillion cornice supports a conical roof with flagpole.

The right-hand gabled bay contains a pair of small-paned sashes with slender glazing bars at first floor, positioned behind a terracotta balustrade. A central small-paned canted oriel, possibly a later addition, sits on a bracket beneath the gable with applied timber. The further gabled wing to the right, set forward, has flush red brick quoins and contains a hotel entrance similar in character to the bar entrance but with a flat canopy beneath a three-light overlight in an eared architrave. The ground floor windows here are of similar proportion to those of the bar, but with triple small-paned lights and finely jointed soft red brick dressings. The first floor features an oriel window in the manner of Norman Shaw, with moulded architraves and small leaded lights, some coloured, beneath a curved rendered soffit. This oriel is flanked by oculi in red brick architraves, each with a tall keystone. An applied timber gable over a moulded bressumer is supported on carved brackets enriched with flowers, whilst the deep oversailing eaves also feature carved brackets enriched with flowers.

The left return rises to three storeys beneath a tall, wide asymmetrical gable with applied timber to a forward gablet. The ground floor is of stock brick and contains a pair of wide segmental-headed windows similar to those on the front bar elevation, with soft red brick dressings. The first floor has a pair of sashes, the upper sash small-paned, set in red brick dressings with arches of soft red brick. Paired first floor sashes with glazing bars sit within red brick dressings. The second floor features a triple casement set beneath the gablet, possibly a later addition, and an oculus in a red brick architrave with a tall keystone rising to the soffit of the gablet. Deep eaves with moulded brackets similar to those of the hotel bay extend across this elevation. Brick stacks throughout have moulded collars and wide moulded caps. A rear two-storey service wing terminates in a similar stack. A gabled porch, possibly dating to around 1900, is constructed in timber on a brick base with elaborate shafts and dentil cornice, and features ground and first floor sashes with glazing bars. The right return repeats the ground floor window pattern of the front elevation, whilst the first floor contains timber casements set within large red brick architraves.

Interior

The public bar is subdivided by a panelled partition with a small door and contains a large horseshoe-shaped bar. To the left of the lobby entrance stands a fireplace with a cast iron grate. A doorcase with a shallow canopy and modillion cornice leads towards a screen with coloured glass panels. The lounge features a panelled alcove behind a round-arched architrave, with the left side containing a panel with glazed leaded lights (some coloured) beneath a fine fanlight with painted flowers to each segment. Panelled dividers between perimeter seating incorporate coloured glass panels. An altered chimneypiece with a copper hood is visible in this space.

An open well stair with heavy moulded square timber newels, moulded rail, and iron balustrade rises to the function room. The upper hall is a five-bay space with an oriel window. Its shallow vaulted ceiling features curved, possibly laminated beams supported on flat kingposts rising from splayed struts, possibly representing later strengthening. A pair of chimneypieces with timber architraves with shaped heads and beaten copper panels are present, with iron grates (possibly added) within replaced green glazed tile slips.

At the west end, a gallery is reached by stairs from the upper lobby. Its splat balustered balustrade is boarded over. Panelled doors include those at the centre with heavy brass plates and those at the side with thin beaten copper plates. Panelled linings and shutter boxes line the oriel window. An adjacent room includes a corner canted bay and retains doors, door furniture, and cornice. Ground and first floor panelled doors throughout carry brass plates, some with curved handles.