Post-war community pubs receive listed status

The listings follow Historic England’s research into an era of pub design when the English pub was a social amenity at the heart of communities across the country.

Pubs were constructed in their thousands as new housing estates cropped up following wartime bombing. Until building restrictions were lifted in late 1954, most of these pubs were temporary or built so as to be capable of future extension.

However, the period from 1954 until around the mid-1980s saw a huge quantity of pubs built in England, many of them located at the heart of neighbourhoods, next to shops, community halls and churches. From the 1960s onwards, with increased competition from venues such as clubs, bars and discos, themed pubs became increasingly popular.

Among the new listings is the ‘themed’ Centurion Public House in Bath which features a large bronze figure of a Roman Centurion on its exterior and a statue of Julius Caesar in the lounge bar.

In Swindon, the Crumpled Horn is an estate pub designed by architect Roy Wilson-Smith around the theme of ‘The House that Jack Built’ nursery rhyme.