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The present building is Victorian/Edwardian, but the description in Jackson's Guide of 1889 indicates that the inn has a much earlier origin. 'An old grey public house fronting the street at Merryboys Hill, adjoining the road to Bradford, the resort of clothiers, was called the Duncan Inn before it became the Green Dragon.' An old print confirms this description. The pub was rebuilt at the end of the nineteenth century as a three storey building, of stone and brick, with arched windows and elaborate carving on the front. The sandstone figures at either end are Atlantes, usually depicted naked, but in this case partly clothed, perhaps so as not to offend the moral sensitivity of Victorian passers-by! The pub changed hands in 1920-21, and also changed its name from the Green Dragon to Hotel Guildford; that part of the Head Row was Guildford Street at that time. The inn was described in the 1919 sale brochure as an 'old established fully licensed hotel' with among other things 'an imposing billiard room with accommodation for four tables' on the ground floor. There was a dining room, 2 smoke rooms, a private sitting room, committee room, club room, and two bedrooms on the first floor with a further four bedrooms on the second floor. In 1975 it ceased to be a residential hotel, and in 1984, Tetleys, the owners, planned to demolish it, but they were refused permission by the Planning Committee. Instead in 1985, the brewery decided on a scheme for major renovation. In 1988 the building won the second Leeds Award for Architecture for an altered building. The building was further transformed when it was taken over by the Northern Monkey and refurbished to its current, high quality standard. |