The Coachmakers Arms, listing application

The Potteries Pub Preservation Group's valiant efforts to secure statutory listed status for the Coachmaker's Arms in Lichfield Street, Hanley has failed - despite a tenacious campaign that lasted for over a year.
Between 2005 and 2006, PPPG submitted photographs and information on the Coachmaker's to English Heritage, including a pub history, researched by Spokesman Mervyn Edwards which told of the hostelry's beginnings as a humble beerhouse around 1870. Following exchanges of correspondence over a period of many months, the Secretary of State decided not to add the Coachmaker's to its list. The Secretary's response tells us much about how insensitive changes to public house interiors have effectively made it hugely unlikely that any more Stoke-on-Trent pubs will be added to the list. A letter dated 21st November, 2006 gave the following assessment and reasons for the rejection of our application:

"Small public house of c1870 date. It is built of brick, now painted, with plain tile roof. It has a central corridor plan of double depth with small rooms on either side with bar to the left. The building is of two storeys and three bays with a large square window to either side of the door. The windows have simple moulded surrounds consisting of panelled pilasters and heavy cornice. The door has a a round-arched surround with emphasised keystone. The first floor windows are late C20 casements replacing the sashes present elsewhere on the building.
Internally, the bar retains its original counter (although with modern top), possible original back bar and corridor serving hatch. The corridor is spanned by a basket arch resting on scrolled brackets and has faience tiling to dado-level. The rooms to the right retain their fire surrounds, that at the rear with a wooden overmantle and shelves. The right front room retains original fixed seating with wooden panelling and there are original cupboards and coat pegs to the games room. The two rooms to the left behind the bar have been knocked through and modernised with a C20 fireplace. There is tiled flooring throughout although this is covered in the front rooms and the corridor has faience tiling to dado level.
This is a small working class pub of a type that was once common across the country, with this particular corridor plan being typical of the Midlands. Although Victorian pubs are numerous, it is often the smallest and most humble that are likely to have been drastically altered to meet the fashion for removing internal walls to provide increased bar area and more spacious rooms, as has occurred to some extent in this instance. Although the Coachmaker's Arms has not suffered to the same degree as many other similar establishments the loss of the plan form and internal features to the left rear rooms is unfortunate. The decorative scheme may be simple but it is not without ambition with its colourful tiling, heavy cornicing and panelled seating that all add interest. The corridor hatch is an unusual feature; these are now fairly rare in pubs. It would appear to be a later insertion as the tiling does not respect the opening, as it does the doorways. It is likely that such a small establishment would have initially had waiter service from the small bar to the other rooms and this later insertion of the hatch therefore reflects the changes in service in the late C19/early C20. However, a pub of this common type and date would need to retain an almost complete interior and sufficiently intact facade to justify inclusion on the list. Despite the interest of the surviving internal elements there is unfortunately not enough original fabric remaining to warrant the listing of the Coachmaker's Arms."

So there we have it. The Coachmaker's Arms may well have one of the best preserved interiors in Stoke-on-Trent, but the loss of some of the original frontage and fenestration and in particular the alterations to the rear left room have scuppered its chances of inclusion on the list. This means that if an unscrupulous or dunder-headed pubco wished to "knock through" the pub in fifteen years time, there would be no protection in place to prevent it. Fortunately, Jason Barlow and his partner Sue are young enough to be at the helm for years to come, and it was with their total acquiescence that PPPG launched its campaign to have the Coachmakers listed.

Latest

The pub is now under threat from developers looking to regenerate the city centre, replacing the pub with a multi-storey car-park. See news page for latest on the campaign to save the Coachmakers.