The Doctor Johnson Public House With Linked Lester And Co Estate Agents, Formerly Off-Sales, And Including Pub Sign

The Doctor Johnson Public House with Linked Lester and Co Estate Agents, Formerly Off-Sales, and Including Pub Sign

A public house and linked shop for off-sales, now estate agents' office, built in 1937–8 by H Reginald Ross. The building is constructed in brown brick with cement render details over a narrow tiled plinth, and features hipped tiled roofs and high brown brick stacks.

The main block is almost square but presents a curved corner to the crossroads, with a longer range extending down Longwood Gardens. The main entrances, positioned under bowed porches, lead to a public bar and saloon, with a private bar accessed by its own corner entrance. A central servery serves the public bar, saloon, and a rear lounge. Walls and gates to the side connect the pub to the adjoining estate agents office.

The exterior displays Moderne style characteristics with horizontal-paned metal casement windows to the upper floor set in banded brickwork beneath a high parapet and rendered cornice band. A broader sill band runs at storey level. The ground floor features larger casements between brick mullions. The entrances to the public and saloon bars are marked by glazed timber double doors and toplights with circular mouldings, sheltered by bowed porches with lotus leaf capitals and steel balustrades. Above these are casement windows in rendered surrounds with console brackets. At parapet level are relief panels depicting Doctor Johnson, made by Arthur Betts. A door to the snug is similarly a glazed double door with a toplight bearing the same circular motifs, set back behind a fluted cement-rendered architrave. The rear elevation is similar, though with a single-storey range set forward featuring glazed French windows beneath rectangular undecorated toplights.

The interiors survive remarkably intact from the late 1930s. A central servery with figured panelled bar front and original back bar with horizontal light fixing is set beneath a deep cornice that runs around all principal bar spaces, forming a trabeation to the ceiling. Dado panelling with similar figuring continues the line of the bar. The public bar retains built-in bench seating. The lounge bar sits within a fluted alcove, a motif repeated to one side of the seating area. The saloon bar entrance is set in a glazed timber surround. The saloon fireplace is set in a stone and timber surround with a stone hearth, whilst fireplaces in the other bars have tiled surrounds.

The former off-sales, now an estate agents, is similarly constructed in brown brick with a hipped roof and features a three-bay glazed frontage beneath a deep fascia. This extends across a glazed timber door to the side and an extra bay on the right return. The interior was not inspected. Off-sales were an extremely important part of 1930s public house design, and this example is exceptional in retaining a well-preserved separate off-sales establishment, allowing customers to purchase alcohol without entering the pub itself. Linking brown-brick walls with wings and double gates attach the former off-sales to the Doctor Johnson.

The pub is fronted by a concrete post with a hanging sign depicting Doctor Johnson, which was important in attracting custom as the pub sits slightly set back from the road.

The Doctor Johnson was built to serve the large new estates being developed at Barkingside in the late 1930s. It is exceptional for the survival of its plan-form and fittings, representing a model pub of its era. The retention of the off-sales shop and signpost form an integral part of this rare ensemble.