The Loft Club

The Loft Club is a social club, formerly The Regency Public House. It likely dates to around 1670. The building is constructed of rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a flat roof.

The building has three storeys. The west-facing front has one window, overlooking Saw Close, and the north-facing front has three windows, adjoining the Gala Bingo Club. All windows are four-pane sash windows with plate glass, set within raised painted stone surrounds on the west front and painted moulded architraves on the north. The ground floor has a late Victorian pub frontage featuring fluted wood Corinthian pilasters supporting a full entablature, with an architrave and frieze that projects forward above each pilaster. The west front includes a large central glazed panel above a panelled stall-riser, with a panelled door and transom light to the right, and a former door and transom light to the left, all separated by six pilasters. The north return elevation features a large window between pilasters above a panelled stall-board. A panelled door and transom light are located to the left, with a small inserted window in between. The entire ground floor has been painted. The upper floors show less extensive alteration and suggest early domestic origins. Weathered drip courses run above each level of window head, with a further string course below the ashlar blocking course. A rendered parapet is visible on the west front, and iron railings are present on the northern return.

The interior has been extensively altered.

Historically, this large house stood in the north-west part of the walled city, near the Timber Close. It has been identified with a house known from the 1670s as the Pound House, and Gilmore’s map of 1694 identifies it as a cockpit. This indicates a long history of use as a place of entertainment, later absorbed by the neighbouring theatre to form a Late Victorian group devoted to popular entertainment.