Railway Tavern, 16 Forth Street

The Railway Tavern, located at 16 Forth Street, is a public house likely built in the mid to late 19th century, possibly incorporating earlier elements. It is a rare example of a two-storey terraced dwelling, originally probably a single storey, situated on the shores of the River Forth and likely on the site of a drovers inn that existed before 1800. The building is notable for its simple design, both inside and out. It features roughly coursed blue-grey rubble with roughly squared quoins and raised ashlar margins around the deep-set windows. There is a deep base course.

The entrance elevation faces northwest and has two closely aligned doors at the center. The left door is a two-leaf panelled timber door with a small keystone that has the lettering 'J DOBIE / LICENSEE', while the right door is a modern timber door. There are windows in the flanking bays below slightly larger windows on the first floor. A steep stone stair on the outer left leads to a timber gate and a first-floor door at the gabled northeast elevation.

Inside, the Railway Tavern retains a rare original layout with separate rooms connected by a narrow passage that features a boarded dado, a hatch, a shelf for passageway drinking, and a bell-box. The interior comprises three rooms, starting with a tiny public bar on the left that has deep timber-lined window reveals, an Art Deco-style cast iron fireplace, a plain counter with a Bakelite top, a back gantry of simple domestic shelving, a two-leaf glazed door to a display cupboard, and seating consisting of four double bus seats facing a single Formica-topped table on a cast iron base. The other three rooms have numbered doors, with rooms two and three equipped with bell pushes for table service, while room one is now a store room.

The principal elevations feature plate glass glazing in timber sash and case windows on the first floor, with modern glazing at ground level. The roof is covered with grey slates, and there are coped ashlar stacks with thackstanes and cans, as well as ashlar-coped skews.