Southampton Arms, London

Three-storey building of London brick built 1938 that has been owned by Camden Brewery & Courage in the past. This is a small pub reminiscent of an old ale house, although opened up to become a one-room pub. There are two doors to the street and the left-hand door is in use, leading to an inner door which is marked ‘saloon’ in stained glass. There is attractive mosaic tiling in the porch. Inside the door is attached the number ‘1’, which reflects the requirement from licensing magistrates to number each section of a pub, a system which was in use until the 1950s.

Markings on the floor suggest a diagonally placed partition has been removed to create the single space, losing what would have been a small public bar on the front right and more generous saloon from the left hand door going back to the rear. There are attractive old pub mirrors, including one for Lacons ales, and pew-style seating. The long thin bar leads to a small garden at the rear.

The pub has old dado railing on walls to about one-third height. In the salon area on the left beneath the dado is stained or lacquered textured wallcovering. To the right in what would have been the public bar there is old tongue and groove wood panelling below the dado. The large centre window between the two doors has plain old wood panelling beneath. The fireplace on the left side has a hefty metal surround and glazed decorative tiling on its interior as well as on the fireplace hood. The flooring around the hearth is plain tiling. The fireplace is in Victorian style but may be a reproduction dating from an inter-war refurbishment.

The bar itself is solid wood and the counter appears intact possibly from the inter-war years. The bar back consists of intact lower shelving and is backed by white tiling with a frame of brown tiles, which are typical of inter-war interior refreshments, but no upper structure. There is a floor to ceiling screen at the rear also of wood, which creates a space for access to the ladies’ toilets and to private space. The gents’ is outside and still features porcelain urinal.