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TYNE AND WEAR - Sunderland, Centre, Dun Cow National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part Two 9 High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3HA (corner Dun Cow Street) Tel: 0191 567 2984 Public Transport: Railway Station: Sunderland Metro: Listed Status: Grade II View this pub on a local map
Re-built in 1901-2, this three story pub of Edwardian baroque has two Dutch gables and a corner copper domed tower which houses two clocks. The impressive exterior has stone carvings including '1901' and 'RD Ltd' for Robert Deuchars, Brewers of Edinburgh; it was designed by architect Benjamin F Simpson. It is one of a number of impressive Edwardian pubs built in Sunderland (another is the Britains Real Heritage pub the Mountain Daisy in the Millfield area. Above the three doorways are decorative stonework including figures of a cat, a cow, a frog and a lizzard - can you find them?
From the entrance on High Street West is a vestibule entrance with etched panels in it. There is a passage from which the ladies leads off - when built this was the Managers Room. The left hand side partition wall has both stained and leaded also decoratively etched panels and a door for staff (was this the original off sales?). A further door on the left leads to the large bar with panelled walls including some bevelled mirrors and fine sectioned plasterwork ceiling with very decorative cornice picked out in red, gold and green. The fireplace is a grand affair with a two sectioned mantlepiece held up by pillars but it has a reproduction interior of cast iron and modern tiles. Modern fixed seating. A corner doorway has been filled in and a wall removed to the small smoke room on the side street.
The Dun Cow has one of the most stunning bar-backs in Britain - a splendid traceried Indo-Gothic web billowing out to form platforms on which bottles can be displayed. It has three sections, divided by semi-circular projections, and is richly decorated with delicate Art Nouveau-style woodcarving and curious reliefs in plaster in some of the recesses. It has two rows of bevelled mirror sections, two drawers and is topped off with a ballustrade and a clock, but the letter box is an S&N; addition in the 1970s to show customers the details on the till. Formidable original bar counter with strong detail such as unusual indentations at the top and pilasters all the way along the front.
A curved screen divides the main bar from the smaller rear sitting room and it has coloured stained and leaded panels in it as well as some decorative etched panels. One panel has been removed from it for access. From the door on Garden Place there is a vestibule entrance with 'Smoke Room' etched panel. The original plans show that the present room is an amalgamation of a much smaller sitting room and a small Hall i.e. the right hand part of the wall separating them has been removed in modern times. In the former Hall area is another original bar counter front with service via a hatch or door to the servery. This small room has another good cornice picked out in red, gold and green, some panelling, the odd bevelled mirror, a Victorian reproduction tiled & cast iron fireplace and modern fixed seating.
The outside gents' have been covered over in recent years. On the first floor (not accessible to the public) is another fine original bar back fitting with bevelled mirror sections and a canopy held up by pillars but no bar counter.
Some detail from The Northumbrian Pub by Lynn F. Pearson
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