Description

SP 08 NE BIRMINGHAM BISHOPSGATE STREET
(South West side), Ladywood
997/8/10024
City Tavern Public House

II

Alternatively known as : City Tavern Public House, TENNANT STREET, LADYWOOD.
Alternatively known as : Bulls Head Public House, BISHOPSGATE STREET, LADYWOOD.
Alternatively known as : Bulls Head Public House, TENNANT STREET. LADYWOOD.
Public House. 1901, restructured internally in c.1984. Designed by James and Lister Lea for Ansells Brewery. Faced externally in terracotta, with glazed red brick and a Lancashire slate roof. Baroque style. Two storeys and attics. Corner site (entrance now blocked) with longer elevation to Bishopsgate Street. This has paired bar windows with arched heads flanking a door and with two further doors to the left (originally the entrances to the private bar and the gents on the left and the off-sales on the right). All doors have rectangular leaded overlights and all openings have dropped keyed heads of the Gibbs type. Continuous decorative band at first floor level. First floor has seven windows with 2 over 2 panes all with similar elaborate terracotta surrounds and with glazed brick between. The attic storey has two dormers with timber casements and broken segmental pediment heads with obelisks on both the kneelers and in the central breaks. The Tennent Street front has a paired bar window and a doorway on the ground floor, the windows above and a dormer above that all as before. Two chimney stacks with wreathed tops and three pots apiece. Two storey, two bay wing to right for the kitchen and yard entrance. INTERIOR. The interior was remodelled in c.1984 when Ansells sold the pub to a syndicate from ITV. Open saloon with bar of c1984 in stained wood carrying brass lamps. Screen behind is original to 1901 with marbled frame, engraved glass, stained wood shelving and leaded snob screens with hinged lights. Hatch to stairhall of 1901 and hatch to pool room (former private bar) of 1984. Doorways to external doors at each end of bar are 1984. Very steep staircase with two turned balusters to each head and stained softwood handrail, lincrusta dado. Pool room has surviving 1901 fireplace with art nouveau iron grate, and tiled surround. Coloured wired glass of probably 1984. First floor said to have pool room and dining room (not seen). HISTORY. Original plan said to have been off sales/public bar/public bar/stair hall/private bar, with the last serviced through the present hatch to the hall. In c1984 the partitions between the off sales and the public bars were removed, the bar was rebuilt and the openings between the hall and the pool room made. The first floor probably originally had a billiard room and a dining room. The exterior of this pub remains unaltered and the interior still retains much of interest.

Listing NGR: SP0589086245

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656828

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)