The Cornubia Tavern

The Cornubia Tavern is a public house located on Hayle Fore Street, dating from around the mid-19th century. The building features stuccoed walls and a hipped roof made of grouted scantle slate, with slightly projecting eaves. It has a brick chimney at the right-hand end and another over the front wall towards the left. The layout consists of a double depth plan with three main rooms along the front. The entrance hall is situated in the right-hand bay of the central two bays, with a room to its left and larger rooms at either end. There is likely a stair hall and service rooms at the rear, along with a deep service wing at right angles behind the left side.

Architecturally, the tavern is two storeys high with a regular six-window front facing the street. It has a stucco plinth and rusticated pilasters at either end that reach the first-floor sill string level, with panelled pilasters above and moulded hoods on carved consoles over the ground floor windows. The doorway is located beneath the left first-floor window and features an overlight and an open distyle porch supported by square, approximately Doric columns with brackets in the entablature. The first-floor windows have original 12-pane hornless sashes, while the ground floor may also have original sashes with marginal panes. The left-hand side wall retains all its original hornless sashes.

Although the interior was not inspected, the Cornubia Tavern has played a significant role in the history of the Copperhouse area of Hayle since the mid-19th century. It has hosted numerous public meetings, official dinners, shareholders' assemblies, and public sales and auctions, including the notable sale of the Copperhouse Foundry in February 1875. The tavern is named after the Hayle-built packet ship Cornubia.