The Iron Duke is

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was designed by A. W. Ecclestone in the late 1930s and completed in 1948. Building work started in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

period; however, work was halted due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Despite being unfinished, a Special Licence was granted so that the Iron Duke could serve the troops stationed locally. The bars in the pub are made from teak taken from the WWI Battleship , which was captained by Admiral John Jellicoe at the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...

. The pub was decorated with murals of the battle. The pub, listed as Grade II, now has a campaign to be restored. The pub is owned by Bourne Leisure, who has kept the pub closed for twenty years to prevent a rivel venue from opening next to their camp. Ecclestone was a skilled architect, and Lacons employed had an army of master builders. Everything was done in-house. The Iron Duke was built as their flagship pub. An attempt to de-list and demolish the pub was made in 2018 by the owners of a neighbouring holiday park. Though the Norfolk County Council made no objection, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport refused the delisting. After standing empty for 14 years, in December 2022, the National Lottery awarded funding for a restoration of the building in conjunction with the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust and Norfolk American diner chain Zak's.

References

Buildings and structures completed in 1948 Grade II listed pubs in Norfolk Great Yarmouth {{pub-stub

See also

References