Bee and Station Hotel

The Bee and Station Hotel is a late 19th-century public house of group value. It is constructed with roughcast render, simulating rusticated ashlar, and has slate roofs with rendered stacks set mid-way in both the front and rear slopes. The building is three storeys high, featuring a four-window range facing Bodfor Street, and a wide two-window gabled return fronting the station forecourt, with a short rear wing and some single-storey extensions at the rear. The lower storey of the building has a complete tiled decorative scheme across both elevations. The tiling uses two shades of brown, articulated by moulded plinth and pilasters flanking the windows. The pilasters are decorated with green embossed tiles embellished with anthemion motifs, also used on panels beneath the windows. These pilasters terminate in paired ribbed brackets supporting a cornice. A doorway leading to the public bar occupies the corner, while another doorway provides access to the entrance hall, located to the right of centre on the main elevation. This doorway is round-arched and features gilded lettering in the fanlight reading ‘Bee Commercial Hotel’. The ground floor windows are segmentally arched; the two windows to the right of the main entrance have smoked glass, patterned and incorporating lettering reading ‘Smoke Room’. The first floor has four oriel canted bay windows with heavy cornices, and sash windows with margin light glazing. The upper storey windows are 2-pane sashes with margin lights. The gabled return to the left features two 12-pane sash windows.

The main entrance on the Bodfor Street elevation opens into a square lobby, separated from the main entrance hall by a panelled and glazed partition and doorway with bevelled glasswork. The lobby is tiled entirely with brightly coloured, richly decorated tiles, arranged as a series of panels forming a loose dado, upper panel, and frieze. The frieze includes trailed floral motifs, urns, and foliage within panels separated by mosaic tiles. The tile design is reminiscent of the work of Maw and Co of Jackfield, although the manufacturer remains unidentified. The internal layout of the public house reflects a late 19th-century remodelling, with the public bar occupying the full depth of the building to the left of the main entrance hall and directly accessible from the street via the angled doorway. The canted bar is built against an internal long wall, and a serving hatch set in panelling with bevelled mirrorwork on the hall side facilitates service to the former smoke-room (now a games room) and the rear lounge bar to the right of the passage. The joinery in the public bar and entrance hall is characterized by heavy reeded pilasters, ornamenting the bar and forming architraves to doorways. A late 19th-century fireplace with overmantle is located in the former smoke-room.