Camden Head, London

Built 1899 (in carved panels on exterior) and subject to a partial restoration by Roderick Gradidge for Maxwell Joseph in 1969. Four storey building of red brick. The present layout of a single space with an island bar was originally three spaces – small public bar at the front left accessed from the front left hand door; a bar at the rear left accessed from a door down the left hand side of the building; and a U-shaped saloon in the right hand half of the ground floor. There was also a club room on the first floor. A plan dated 1955 still showed the 3 bars but by 1961 a screen with a door in it situated at the rear was removed leaving a small public bar on the front left and the remaining three-quarters of the ground floor was the enlarged saloon bar. In 1969 the two small partitions that created the public bar were removed and sections of the original partitions with good engraved and faceted glass were reused to form alcoves. The former Saloon Bar entrance on the right has decorative transfer-printed tiles below the dado rail and up to the frieze that look original. There is a good curved screen from this now main entrance including etched and frosted glass panels featuring birds and flowers.

The island bar counter has fronts of three designs (reflecting the three original rooms) – that on the rear section with some shell scallop semi-circular sections looks genuinely old; other parts look more inter-war. The island bar gantry is mostly original with mirrored panels and shelves held up by slender pillars. The two squared pillars holding it up to the ceiling look modern and there are two arches for staff – but what date were they created? There is an original fireplace in the north-east wall; lots of good mirrors including a Youngers one (the owners in 1961 seem to have been William Younger & Co.) and rare blown glass Victorian gin bottle on the bar back. Note the old bell pushes on the right hand wall – do these indicate fixed seating lined the wall until 1969 or are they additions from 1969? According to the listed description, upstairs, in the former club room, now a dining room, two late C19 cast-iron fireplaces, and stained and painted glass panels to the upper sashes in the style of the Aesthetic Movement; these windows were introduced in 1969 from a demolished house in Marlborough Crescent, Bedford Park, West London; more such glass on the first-floor landing.