Reports from the Archaeological Building Recording of The Grove Tavern, 70 Swift Road, Southampton, SOU1768, 2017
Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1090356. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Dr Andy Russel unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Primary contact
Southampton City Council
Collections Management Centre
Unit 31, City Industrial Park
Southampton
SO15 1HA
England
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4189
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1090356
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
The Archaeology Unit of Southampton City Council carried out a programme of archaeological building recording at 70 Swift road, Southampton. The building was built by Brickwoods of Portsmouth in 1938 or 1939 on the site of an earlier beer-house, and it had undergone very little change. A full set of architects’ drawings survive in the Southampton Archives. They are dated 1932 but were not passed by Building Control until 1938.
The building was built in a restrained Tudor Revival style with steeply pitched roof, shadowed windows under overhanging eaves, and a jettied front. There was no fake timber-framing, so the overall look was more Lutyens’ ‘country house’ than ‘Brewers Tudor’. Other elements came from other architectural styles, such as the Venetian window, the classical paterae, and the modern soldier-courses over the metal-framed windows, making the building recognisably ‘art-deco’ in today’s terms. The front elevation incorporated the Brickwoods rising-sun logo.
Upstairs, the landlord had a kitchen with built-in units, a living room, four bedrooms and a bathroom and toilet. Both the pub and the living accommodation had central heating.
Internally the fireplaces and most of the woodwork, including the three bars, survived, but the Childrens’ Room had been converted to toilets. Of interest in terms of the social order of the day was the absence of a ladies toilet associated with the public bar, it was obviously a male-only space, served by an external toilet and urinal. Women were only tolerated if they were supervising children in the separate Childrens’ Room.
