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The Gatehouse was situated at 391 Dereham Road. This pub was built in 1934, replacing a 19thC building of the same name on same site, which had burnt down. Grade-II listed in 2015 (a fusion of Arts & Crafts with local vernacular building influences). Closed April 2023 owing to illness of licensee. Purchased by the local Muslim association, the application seeks to transform the former pub into a place of worship and community centre.

Source: Kathryn Ludlow

Listed building details:

The Gatehouse is an inter-war public house, completed in 1934, its design an eclectic mixture of Arts and Crafts, neo-Tudor and local vernacular detailing, located close to a major junction on Norwich's outer ring road. The building's architect has not yet been identified. MATERIALS The building is constructed of red brick with ashlar stone dressings and plain tile roof coverings. There is external decorative chequer work in knapped flint and render, and the irregular placement of vitrified bricks for decorative effect.. PLAN The building is of an irregular T-shaped plan, its original form slightly obscured by a C20 rear extension. EXTERIOR The building is aligned east-west, its principal (south) elevation set back from Dereham Road. It occupies a sloping site, with land falling away to the north and south-west. At the west end of the site is a two-storey range with a curved, tower like frontage, the upper floor of which is decorated with knapped flint and render chequer work. Each level of the curved front has three windows, those to the upper floor are two-light, leaded casements, while those below are taller, leaded cross windows. At the right-hand side of the curved walling is a tall, externally-expressed chimney stack, of tiered profile. The west-end elevation incorporates a doorway with a massive ashlar surround beneath a gable within which there is a heraldic crest, and flanking finials. To the left of the doorway are three, two-storey bays, the central bay recessed, and the outer bays with gablets. The recessed bay has upper-floor chequer work, and at its base is a crenellated single-storey projection. Further to the left is a much more plainly detailed, two-storey range with replacement window frames, thought to be the accommodation for the manager or tenant. The remaining part of the south elevation is a long single-storey range set back from the curved front wall of the two-storey range with a tall, steeply-pitched roof and a single tiered ridge chimney stack. At the junction of the two ranges is a second small crenellated ground-floor structure extending from the base of the adjacent chimney stack. Further right is a wide ashlar, six-light mullion and transom window, the lights with pointed heads. Above is a low five-light mullioned window set beneath a small gable, within which is set a datestone bearing the date 1934. Towards the centre of the range is a single-storey porch with a hipped roof and a central half-glazed door with small flanking windows. The porch was added in the 1970s, the door and windows re-set from their original position on the front elevation. Beyond the porch is a further four-light casement window, and at the east end, a canted bay window is set beneath a shallow hipped projection within the main hipped end of the roof. The windows throughout the principal elevations incorporate leaded glazing. INTERIOR The interior of the public house is divided into three distinct compartments, a long central public bar, a saloon bar at the west end and a smoke room at the east end, with toilets to the rear of this area. The porch gives access to what were originally two external doors, clearly shown in a 1939 photograph of the front elevation. The left-hand door gives access to the public bar, which retains a contemporary bar counter with a panelled frontage and a back bar structure. At its east end, the main counter terminates at a small servery set at right angles to the main counter, and facing into the bar room at the east end. The counter is believed to have originally formed part of an off-sales compartment, now lost as a result of alterations in the 1970's. The public bar has fixed seating against the south wall, and a high ceiling which imitates an open roof space, with applied timbers imitating roof members. The upper area of the 'roof' space is lit by the gable window set above the mullion and transom window which illuminates the lower bar area. At the east end of the bar area is a brick fireplace set below a panelled overmantle. The mullion and transom window incorporates some decorative stained glass in the form of six roundels depicting objects or figures in a medieval or Tudor style. The bar room at the east end has three-quarter height panelling and a narrow decorative plaster frieze with depictions of hops, flowers and leaves, interrupted by diagonal floral lozenges. The frieze extends into the public bar, above the back bar shelving and then into the saloon bar at the west end of the building, originally entered from the elaborate entrance in the west end wall. The bar has three-quarter height panelling and a Tudor-style fireplace in a panelled surround set within a curved wall. There is a redundant servery recess on the north wall which is thought to be the surviving section of the saloon bar counter which was modified when toilets were created at the west end of the building in the 1970's. Fixtures and Fittings The Gatehouse retains a significant proportion of its original interior fittings, including bar and back bar structures, door and window joinery, stained glass and wall panelling, as described above. Despite minor internal alterations, the surviving fixtures and fittings provide a clear indication of the different decorative finishes considered to be an appropriate means of distinguishing the status of the different bar rooms within a public house of this period.

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