Shakespeare Inn

The Shakespeare Inn is a public house located on Victoria Street in Bristol. It dates back to the early 17th century, with the year 1636 inscribed on its front. The building underwent extensive restoration in 1950 and was re-roofed in 1992. It features a timber box-frame construction with roughcast, two rubble lateral stacks on either side topped with brick, and a pantile roof. The double fronted gable end faces the street and originally had a right-hand stair between the stacks, with front and back rooms; the left-hand stacks are from a previous house.

The inn has three storeys, a cellar, and an attic, comprising a two-bay range. Its symmetrical front is divided by pantiled pents on each floor, with boxed eaves and a wide central doorway that has a two-leaf studded door added in 1950. The square three-storey bays have timber posts flanking the doorway, and the bays contain two-leaf cellar doors with strap hinges. The first and second floors feature 4/8-pane sash windows, while the attic has 6/6/6 sliding sashes beneath an original moulding.

Inside, much of the structure reflects the 1950 restoration, including a new stair and moulded beams on the first and second floors. The roof has through-purlins with diagonal braces, nails, and pegging. A timber barrel runs down into the cellar from the street. The original plan form of the building is characteristic of 17th-century merchants' houses, similar to those found in King Street after the 1660s.