Viva Brighton Issue #43 September 2016

BITS AND BOBS
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PUB: THE VICTORY
“I tell American customers that my
pub is older than their country,”
says Keegan, the 30-something
Scottish manager at the Victory, as
I tuck into my crab cakes and salad
at one of the little tables in front of
the rather magnificent, if in-needof-a-paint,
bar.
He’s referring to a sign on the front
of the pub, claiming it dates back
to 1766, and was rebuilt in 1824.
On the latter date it was renamed
The Victory, after Nelson’s flagship
(that day-trip destination of every
schoolkid in the country).
We used to have our offices above
Marwood Café, so the Victory was
something of a regular post-workpint
haunt, but its central location
in Duke Street means I haven’t
been a total stranger in the last year.
And, having done a bit of research,
and found out that the building is
Grade II-listed, I’m looking at it
with new eyes, and realising quite
what a characterful bit of architecture
it is.
The description of the place in the
Historic England website (where
you can find out architectural
details of listed buildings) is written
in a manner I find difficult to understand
without looking up much
of the jargon, but once I know what
a gumbrel roof is, I know what to
look for. It even lists in detail the
bar which I mentioned earlier: ‘barback
of 3 bays and 3 shelves with
turned balusters, entablature and scrolled pediment to centre; bar
front possibly of the same date’.
There’s also a description of a feature I swear I’ve never noticed before:
‘good late C19 fireplace in former saloon with bracketed Ionic
columns supporting mantelshelf and overmantel mirror flanked by
pilaster-panels with brackets over’. Nice.
The most distinctive bit of the pub is undoubtedly its façade, fashioned
by Tamplin’s Brewery in 1910, which is described in the same
text in too much detail to go into here. Next time you walk past,
take a good look at the two-tone green tiles, and the ornate window
panes. They don’t make them like that anymore.
Watneys bought out Tamplin’s in the 50s and, being the company
that produced Red Barrel bitter and Party Seven cans, they painted
over this beautiful tiling, stripping the pub of its character. Nowadays,
restored to former glory, it’s got plenty of that, inside and out:
it’s surprisingly full of nooks and crannies for its relatively small size.
Oh and the crab cakes are real tasty, too. Alex Leith
Painting by Jay Collins
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