Tally Ho public house

This public house was built in 1927 by architect JL Denman for Kemp Town Brewery. It is a distinctive example of vernacular revival architecture from the interwar period.

Construction and Materials

The building is constructed of handmade red brick laid in stretcher bond with stone dressings. Decorative panels of tile and knapped flint enhance the exterior, and the roofs are covered in plain tiles made by W Brown of Redhill. An unusual feature is the extensive use of applied pressed metal and plaster decorative panels throughout.

Layout and Form

The pub occupies a corner plot on a sloping site, with a prominent entrance at the angle between Church Street and Green Street. The main block is of two storeys with basements. Originally the ground floor contained the bars and probably a dining room or private room, with accommodation on the upper floor. The bar area has since been opened up into a single space, though the rear room—possibly a later addition—remains separate. The falling ground to the north accommodates an off-licence at street level. Attached to the west of the main building is a single-storey function room with its gable end facing the road.

Main Building Exterior

The two-storey main block comprises two near-symmetrical bays facing Church Street and a single bay on Green Street, all under steeply pitched hipped roofs. The main entrance is set back within the angle and reached by a flight of stone steps between curved retaining walls built of stone with chequerwork flint panels. The entrance features a pair of moulded doorways with chamfered and crocketed arches either side of a chamfered central pier. The oak doors, originally stained rather than painted, have vertical linenfold moulded panels shaped at the head and a central vertical glazed panel with rectangular leaded lights. Flanking windows are pairs of two-light chamfered stone mullions with rectangular leaded panes, the central panel depicting a dolphin, all set within a flush stone wall enhanced with chequerwork flint panels. Applied to the deep flush stone fascia band above the entrance is a pressed metal and plaster frieze depicting hunting scenes.

Above the entrance sits a three-light window set in a tall stone surround, each light with a shaped head similar to the doorways and rectangular leaded panes. A pair of cast iron lamp standards, painted black to resemble bronze and each carrying a pair of facetted green glass lanterns, is attached to the retaining walls, and a single lantern resembling a standard street lamp is suspended above the entrance.

The Church Street elevation is built principally in brick with decorative tile aprons beneath the first floor oriel windows. Windows throughout have metal-framed leaded rectangular lights, those on the upper floor set in moulded timber frames. The base has deep stone quoins which continue upwards as buttress-like stone piers to the ground floor. The left-hand pier has a pressed metal and plaster panel depicting dolphins and grapes—the brewery's insignia—set in a moulded stone frame. The equivalent right-hand panel is missing. The centrepiece breaks forward slightly and at ground floor has a pair of four-light mullion windows, each light with a shaped head bearing a cushion-like capital displaying the KTB monogram and insignia. The first floor breaks forward over the ground floor, and the soffit is moulded and inscribed Tally-Ho Hotel and Kemp Town Brewery. A pair of four-light oriel windows beneath tile-hung gablets have metal-framed casements in moulded timber frames, the almost ogival-shaped heads filled with patterned leaded glazing. The moulded stone cornice and narrow stone eaves band continue across the other elevations. To the left stands a tall chamfered lozenge-sectioned brick stack with an offset shoulder and moulded cap, a model repeated elsewhere in the building. The pub sign, suspended from a timber bracket, has a cut-out image of a huntsman and hounds in a decorative metal frame inscribed The Tally-Ho.

The return elevation to Green Street is similarly treated in a single wide bay. Because of the falling ground it has a long basement window of deep-set paired rectangular windows. The window lighting the main floor has six shaped lights and the oriel above has five lights. The soffit of the upper floor is inscribed Tally Ho Hotel, with a dolphin to each side. The buttress piers also have a pressed metal panel of a dolphin, and there is a second, possibly later, hanging sign bearing the name The Tally Ho. To the north, a tall external stack with paired shafts rises through the eaves line.

To the right of this stack the dining room or private room is set back within a flat-roofed block. It has east-facing timber-framed French doors and flanking windows with rectangular leaded lights. The northern two-storey elevation, which is purely functional, is in brick with metal-framed casements and cross casements and a centrally placed part-glazed panelled door.

Off-Licence

On the street frontage stands a single-storey off-licence which is integral to the architectural composition. Built of dressed stone with the same decorative dolphin panels as elsewhere, it has a symmetrical timber shop front of small-paned fixed lights and a part-glazed unpainted door with moulded panels and a shaped head beneath an elaborate fascia. Above the shop front runs a full-length pressed metal fascia panel with a vine leaf trail and bunches of grapes either side of a shield bearing six small birds, and over the door the name The Tally-Ho. The soffit above the shop entrance is decorated with the monogram KTB flanked on each side by a dolphin. Above the north-facing shop window the fascia is inscribed The Tally Ho.

Function Room

The single-storey function room facing Church Street is an integral part of the building and of its architectural composition. Set out symmetrically with a large bow window facing the road and flanked by a pair of entrances, it has a hipped tile roof behind the facade. The full-height bow window is divided into three stages with a decorative band between the central and upper stages, and has a deep moulded parapet decorated with facing pairs of dolphins and the KTB monogram. The upper stage windows have shaped heads separated by cushion-like capitals and contain armorial glass. The entrances have shaped crocketed heads above which is a metal panel bearing the KTB crest flanked by dolphins. Shaped outer oak doorframes, stained rather than painted, have matching doors with linenfold lower panels and a central panel of upper glazed lights with leaded panes matching the main entrance doors. To the left stands a chamfered and moulded brick stack.

Interior

The function room has a five-bay flat barrel vaulted roof of a profile similar to the external door and window arches, with moulded ribs and more elaborate purlins supported on piers with moulded capitals. Some dado panelling and chair rails remain in situ, though altered, at the rear of the room and in the bay where there is also a raised dais. The fireplace to the left-hand side of the room has been removed, revealing the brick opening.

The bars have been opened up as a single space. Ceiling beams and friezes are decorated with a plaster trail of vine leaves and bunches of grapes. Walls are lined in a simplified interpretation of linenfold panelling that appears to have been altered. Two fireplaces remain in place, the northern example heavily restored. The bar has been reconfigured, but traces of the original decoration and some shelving remain at the rear. The walls are lined with banquette seating arranged in seating bays on the roadside. Internal ground floor doors have small moulded panels, those nearest the entrances with some glazed lights. Some have patent floor plates.

To the rear of the bar, stairs have a closed string, paired flat balusters and square newels with plain drop finials. The stair is lit by an internal circular window depicting a knight on a white horse with the KTB monogram below it, positioned so that it was intended to be read from the corridor behind the bar. On the first floor, rooms have small moulded timber fireplace surrounds with tiled linings and hearths. Doors are of three horizontal panels and some have original door furniture. The former off-licence has a vine-leaf trail cornice.