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Summary

Description

Early 19th century incorporating earlier fabric, alterations circa 1890, 1910 and 1954. Two-storey, 6-bay, gabled, L-plan public house and accommodation above; projecting single storey window to front elevation with slate roof and bracketed eaves. Stugged ashlar sandstone with droved ashlar dressings. Base course. Regular fenestration. Steps up to two-leaf timber-panelled entrance door to pub at left with small-paned fanlight; timber panelled entrance door to flat to right.

Mixture of glazing: 12-panes in upper sash and plate glass below in timber sash and case windows to left; non-traditional glazing to upper floor. Welsh slate. Brick stacks with yellow clay cans.

INTERIOR: good simple pub interior consisting of three areas. Small lobby with inner doors to right and left with etched glass bearing words 'Bar' (right) and 'Smoke Room' (left). Timber panelling to dado height in main bar; curved timber-panelled bar counter, timber gantry with integral clock and mirrors, the central one etched with crossed brooms (besoms) and thistles; timber chimneypiece. Smoke Room to left and Coldstream Guards room to rear (with full height timber-boarded walls).

Statement of Special Interest

The Besom Inn is a simple, well-detailed building on a prominent site in the main thoroughfare of Coldstream and makes a very positive contribution to the townscape. The building has an early 18th century (or earlier) core as, unlike most other buildings of the High Street, it is set at an angle to the street and thus pre-dates the regularising of the street which took place from the 1760s onwards.

Although a settlement had existed from the Middle Ages in this spot, Coldstream developed after an Act of Parliament was passed in 1762 enabling a turnpike road to be formed along the N side of the town from a bridge over the Leet at the W to the bridge over the Tweed to the E. It thus became a part of the main throughfare from Edinburgh to London. Building feus were offered alongside this road in 1771 and Coldstream's present High Street developed soon after this. The New Statistical Account (1834) reports that the mail curricle to London passed along this street every day. It is thought that the building has served as an inn, probably from the eighteenth century, and the adjacent single storey outbuilding to E is believed to have served as accommodation for travellers and the building at the rear of this being the stable. The accommodation above the public house was probably occupied by the landlord.

The Edwardian alterations to the inn which include the re-glazing of the ground floor windows and the addition of the canted window are sympathetic to the character of the building. The public bar area is simple but has a fine timber gantry with etched mirror, carvings and a clock in the central pediment. The timber panelling around the room with shelves and glazed cupboards may have been added in the mid-20th century but they also sympathetic to the character of the room. The Coldstream Guards Room situated to the rear left also dates from 1954. Listed as part of the Public Houses Thematic Study 2007-08.

References

Bibliography

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