Grove Park: inside the Baring Hall Hotel

Image: © Chris Downer Taken: 9 Feb 2018

When I wrote the description on Image, I mentioned that the fire damage, from the firebomb which closed the pub in 2009, had not yet been repaired. That was in February 2014, a couple of months after the pub had reopened. Now, four years on, it is clear that the charred beams and other smoke damage has been retained as a kind of feature of the place, giving it a slightly dark, rather otherworldly atmosphere which is actually quite wonderful. We are looking diagonally towards the bar, in the main part of the building, from the conservatory-like addition to the west. The beams out of picture towards the top of the sloping roof above us actually give a more obviously burnt impression, but the little window-like screen partly filling the archway has very evident smoke damage. The wall in the gents' toilet is also rather bizarre in that it has old stonework crudely criss-crossed by more modern timberwork. The rest of the building, which I mentioned in the linked photo above, has now opened and it is a lovely convivival place which I look forward to when I visit friends in this area.

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