CONTEXT.
An application has been made for the Swan Inn public house in Worksop, Nottinghamshire to be assessed for listing. It is one of 3 public houses in Worksop to be submitted by the applicant for assessment, and neither the Swan Inn, nor the 2 other buildings are identified by the applicant as being at risk or the subject of current development proposals, although the building was being refurbished at the time of inspection.

HISTORY.
The Swan Inn was built in 1926 to replace an earlier public house of the same name. The earlier building is shown as a public house on the 1887 O.S. map, but not on the 1898 and 1920 editions. However, a public house is shown on the 1920 edition as occupying the corner of Castle Street and Bridge Street, the site of the present No. 94 Bridge Street. On the 1887 map, the Swan Inn is shown with 2 malthouse ranges to the rear, suggesting that it may have once formed part of a brewery, maltings and public house ensemble. The present public house was built in a lean mock-timber-framed style along with the buildings to the east extending to Bridge Street, including the corner public house site. All evidence of the former maltings has now been erased, and currently the 1926 interior is being remodelled The earlier public house and associated maltings were located close to the site known as Castle Hill, and are likely to have formed part of the core of the early settlement.

DESCRIPTION.
The Swan Inn is an asymmetrical 5 bay building of red brick with a brown faience-clad ground floor and an upper storey decorated with applied mock timber-framing. The ground floor has mullioned and transomed windows of 2 and 3 lights, the surrounds to which are picked out in lighter faience. The bays are delineated by pilasters with decorative heads and a fascia band above the openings carries the legend ' TOMLINSON'S FINE ALES BEERS STOUTS WINES AND SPIRITS'. Interrupting this lettering above the doorway is ' SWAN INN', and above this a square, tiled panel carrying the date 1926. The upper floor has tall 4-light timber mullioned and transomed frames with leaded lights, separated by rendered panels with applied mock framing. There are 2 gablets and a wide gabled bay to the east end. The faience work and the upper floor are separated by a shallow dentilled band above the fascia lettering. The side and rear elevations are of plain appearance and are devoid of decorative features. The interior of the building was in the process of being comprehensively remodelled, and no original features, fittings or decorative features could be identified.

ASSESSMENT.
The Swan Inn is one of a very large population of surviving late nineteenth century and early twentieth century urban public houses in England. This period was one of strong growth and expansion in the trade, with brewery companies investing heavily in new premises, and developing 'improved' public houses which were both attractively-detailed and which offered, in often carefully planned and well-finished interiors, a range of different facilities for different classes of customer. Many were designed with dining rooms, smoke rooms, and, in some examples such as the houses developed in Carlisle in the early twentieth century, with segregated areas for the sexes. Some brewers, such as Joseph Holt in Eccles consistently produced high quality designs for public houses, and many breweries employed in-house architects to develop a distinctive public house style. External architectural display and internal comfort and respectability characterised many public house developments of the period, and evidence of these characteristics are an important aspects of listing assessments. High architectural quality, the survival of an original and a little altered plan and original bar and back-bar fittings will usually be required to support a claim to special architectural interest, a claim which will be enhanced by original fixtures, fittings, joinery and decorative finishes in the different bar areas. When considered in a national context, the Swan Inn is of modest architectural quality by comparison with the many surviving examples of the popular Tudor Revival style used extensively for 'improved' public houses in the 1920's and 1930's, and the survival of the external faience decorative finish is not in itself of sufficient weight to justify a listing recommendation. The comprehensive remodelling of the original interior and the apparent loss of the original plan and contemporary fixtures and fittings significantly diminish the claim to special interest, and thus, whilst the Swan Inn remains an asset to the Conservation Area in which it is located, it has been significantly altered and falls some considerable way below the standard required for listing. (2)

<1> Nottinghamshire County Council, 2000 - 2015, NCC Historic Buildings Team notes (Unknown). SNT6222.

<2> Historic England, 2021, National Record of Historic Environment (Digital archive). SNT5271.