An 85-year-old drinker who has been visiting the same pub since just after the end of the Second World War has raised a glass to its award-winning restoration.
Brian Walsh, of Oakes, has been drinking in the King’s Head next door to Huddersfield Railway Station in St George’s Square, since September 1949.
It was a very different hostelry in those days when you could buy a pint of beer for just a few pence – and had to go elsewhere if you needed the loo.
And it was not in a good state for many years with water damage occurring and a false ceiling introduced to cover extensive ceiling plaster water damage.
The pub was down-at-heel with the toilets not having been touched since 1979, the year a certain Margaret Thatcher swept to power.
Fortunately new landlord Bruce Travis had the vision and the tenacity to see how it could be transformed and although it took more than two years and an outlay of £200,000 his efforts have paid dividends with it winning a major national heritage award.
And Brian is just one of many punters bowled over by the results. He said: “I was 17-and-a-half-years-old when I had my first pint here. It has changed a lot recently.
“It wasn’t posh like this though it’s the same floor. Where that snug is now was a First Class waiting room.
“In 1949 there wasn’t a posh roof like there is now. Beer was around nine pence a pint. There were no toilets. I have been coming in for 67 years. I have always enjoyed coming in.
“Before Bruce took it on his predecessor Wilber Cox put carpets on the floor covering up the intricate mosaic design.”
The King’s Head, a former grand ticket hall and waiting room, next door to the Grade I listed station won the category of the Great Western Railway Craft Skills Award for the National Railway Heritage Awards 2017.
The awards which are in their 38th year encompass all sectors of the railway industry in the UK.
The brief for entrants was railway structures, of which the obvious ones are stations, but railway-built structures can encompass goods sheds, signal boxes, viaducts, bridges, tunnel portals, level crossings, rare historic pointwork.
The criteria for entering a project: it must have heritage interest and value. The emphasis was on overall quality and thoroughness in approach, sympathetic treatment, awareness of conservation practice, attractiveness to the public and regard for the local environment.
The panel of adjudicators numbered 11, and included Robin Leleux, Chairman (author and historian), Prof Marilyn Palmer, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Archaeology, Leicester University and John Ives, Chartered Architect.
The awards were presented by Mark Wild, managing director of London Underground and the plaque commemorating the achievement now has pride of place in the pub.
The work which cost £200,000 has been aided by modest grants from the Railway Heritage Trust.
Mr Leleux said: “I have judged various improvement works at Huddersfield Station in recent years so it was a pleasure to go out and view this project. I was not disappointed.
“When one sees and hears close up just what had to be done, such as removing the extraordinarily low false ceilings, recreating the decorative plasterwork ceilings, repairing the floor tiling and creating a new and attractive bar, the sense of achievement is all that much greater.
“A bold imagination, a sound plan of what can and should be done, and an eye for detail are essential for a scheme such as this to succeed; all are there so it has done, excellently.”
Bruce, who worked in the legal profession in Halifax for many years prior to becoming a landlord more than 14 years ago, said he was really pleased with the award and added: “It’s a proud achievement.”
