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Cutting, etching and embossing glass was perfected by the Victorians and put to excellent effect in many of the hundreds of pubs they built towards the end of the 19th century. It was considered inappropriate for people to be able to peer through pub windows at the people inside, and in any case the magistrates would not have allowed clear glass. Translucent glass in the lower panes was the ideal solution, as people couldn’t see in and it allowed the creation of the ornate and decorative designs beloved of Victorian pub architects.
Almost all Victorian and Edwardian urban pubs had decorative translucent glass and although most of it has been torn out, much still remains. Etched glass was still popular in the 1920s and 1930s, although the intricate art nouveau patterns had given way to simpler geometric designs. Pubs continue to add etched glass windows today, often to replace glass that was removed in the clear glass craze of the 1990s and early 2000s, and sometimes to replace original glass with modern copies.
How is it made?
The methods of creating the glass included etching or embossing, brilliant cutting, and gilding. Embossed glass began to be used in pubs from around the 1870s. Etching or more properly, embossing, involves adding a protective coating to the design and then applying acid to the unprotected surfaces. This is then ground to remove the transparency. A method called French Embossing developed in France in the 1880s removed the need for grinding and applied a number of coats of different acid mixtures to create two or three tones on the treated surface. This method came just in time for the pub building boom of the 1890s and embossed glass was used heavily in the prestige pubs of the period. Not only was it easier to make, the mix of tones allowed for more elaborate and eye-catching designs.
Brilliant cutting was more expensive than embossing but money was plentiful in the boom and the aesthetic benefits made it popular. The method used a rotating wheel to cut a V groove which was then then polished. It could be used on its own but it was more often used to enhance embossed glass.
A further enhancement used in the classier pubs was gilding. Thin sheets of gold leaf was cut to shape and applied to the glass. Gilding could be added to etched glass, often for lettering, and was also used to colour the grooves made by cut glass.
The method used depended on how much money was available. Smaller locals were likely to just have etched exterior windows and maybe some etched door glass inside. More prestigious pubs had windows that combined etching and brilliant cutting, or for the very best, with gilding as well. The techniques were mostly used for windows but could also be applied to mirrors, often on bar backs but sometimes covering whole walls.
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The images show from left to right, etched glass with three tones at the Commercial in Colne, brilliant cut glass lettering combined with etched glass at the Bartons Arms in Birmingham and etched and cut glass with gilding applied at the Victory in Brighton.
Styles
Translucent pub glass in the pub building boom of the 1890s usually had a vaguely art nouveau design, with undulating lines incorporating natural elements like flower stalks, leaves and vines. Sometimes the artwork was enough and the design covered the whole pane of glass. More usually the design was combined with lettering, indicating the pub name, the brewery name or the room behind the glass, and quite often all three in the same pub.
Just the design
Glass designs without lettering tended to feature in the classier pubs where there were large areas of fancy glasswork. The Salisbury in Charing Cross in London has large etched and cut glass screens with spreading tendrils and a floral design at the centre (below left). The Argyll in London’s West End has cut and etched glass screens with cornucopia overflowing with flowers and fruit (below right).
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Some pub architects went a step further by using cut and etched glass mirrors. The Red Lion in St James’s has two walls lined with spectacular mirrors, again with cut glass foliage stems with a floral centrepiece (below left). The entrance corridor of the Princess Louise in Holborn has lavishly gilded cut glass mirrors interspersed with tiled images (below right).
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Pub Names
Most pub glass designs were practical as well as ornamental, and lettering to advertise or to guide customers was the norm. The most obvious of these was the pub’s own name.
The Friendship is a Holts Brewery pub in Prestwich in Manchester and it has delightful etched glass showing its name in several outdoor windows (below left). The Three Goats Heads in the centre of Oxford has a lovely window with cut and etched glass and the gilded pub name across the centre (below centre). The Lord Clyde in London’s Borough has an intricate art nouveau design surrounding the pub name (below right).
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Brewery Names
Victorian breweries were responsible for most of the new pubs built in the boom of the late 1890s and early 1900s, and they made sure that their name was displayed in the expensive glass they were installing in doorways and windows. The examples shown below are all from the north of England.
Grimshaw’s were one of the two main breweries in Burnley, Lancashire and were taken over by their local rival Massey’s in 1928. Their elegant three-toned French embossed windows still survive in the Commercial, a corner local in the town of Colne, seven miles from Burnley (below left).
Hewitt Brothers were based in Grimsby but became the premier pub owner in Doncaster after acquiring the Exchange Brewery and expanding their tied estate in the town. The Horse & Groom was built in 1933 in a typical inter-war design but the etched windows they added are in an art nouveau style popular 30 years earlier (below centre).
Houlding’s were a Liverpool Brewery who had connections with both of Liverpools top football clubs. The Everton football ground was owned by Houlding’s and their Beacon symbol came from the tower in the centre of Everton. When the club left the ground after a dispute over rent, brewery owner John Houlding founded Liverpool FC. The window shown is at the Cracke pub and features a fairly basic etched glass design common in smaller Victorian pubs in the north (below right).
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Pub Rooms
Victorian pubs usually had several rooms, and window and door glass with the room name ensured that the punters knew what type of room they were entering. Public Bars, Tap Rooms or Vaults were for the working man (and they usually were men). Saloons, Lounges and Smoke Rooms were for a better class of customer, including women. Private Bars were usually for customers known to and friendly with the licensee. Specialist rooms included Music Rooms, Billiards Rooms, Luncheon Bars and Buffet Bars. Off-sales areas had names like Jug & Bottle, Retail Department and Outdoor Department.
The Red Lion’s splendid mirrors are mentioned above and the same pub has some excellent decorative door glass. The Private Bar door once led into a special invitation-only room and has a series of beautiful etched and brilliant cut panels (below left).
Saloon Bars are common in London, and the one in the Hope, close to Smithfield Market, has a door with cut glass patterns surrounding a gilded sign on etched glass (below centre).
The term Vaults to describe the Public Bar was common in Yorkshire and the North West. There is one in the Cardigan Arms, a largely unaltered Victorian pub in Burley, Leeds, but it now incorporates what used to be a separate Ladies Department. The door glass for both still survive but I only have a photo of the Vaults (below right).
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Glass in the 1920s & 1930s
The trend of new-build pubs in the inter-war years was to be simpler and plainer, and etched windows were no exception. A classic example is at the 1929 Golden Ball in York with the brewery and beer names surrounded by a simple frame (below left).
Art Deco was a popular style for pubs in the 1930s, but relatively few of those remaining have translucent glass. The Kingsway in Rochdale, built in 1938, probably has the best examples. The geometric pattern and the font on the Parlour windows are typically Art Deco, and there are Public Bar, Gents Toilets and Ladies Toilet windows in the same design (below right). The Kingsway has one of the least altered Art Deco interiors in the UK, but it sadly closed in 2018. It is owned by Samuel Smiths Brewery who have not attempted to dispose of it, and it’s hoped that they will re-open it as pub sometime soon.
It wasn’t uncommon for inter-war pubs to buck the ‘plain’ trend in etched windows and the art nouveau windows of the 1930s Horse & Groom in Doncaster described in Brewery Names above was one of these.
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Translucent pub glass in the present day
Lots of Victorian and inter-war translucent glass was removed following pub refurbishments in the 1970s and 1980s, but the worst period for destruction was the 1990s and early 2000s. Clear glass in pub windows became very fashionable and countless etched and stained glass panes were removed in this period. The craze seems to have eased off in recent years and many pubs are now replacing the clear glass with newly made translucent glass in both contemporary and retro designs. Some pubs have replaced broken or damaged original windows with modern copies.
The Victorian methods of making translucent glass described above (etching, French embossing, brilliant cutting) are all still available and another method, sandblasting, is now offered as well. The good news is that there are a number of firms producing high quality glass for pubs using these methods, including RS Glass Design of Bolton, S. Taylor of Stockport and Hereford Glass of Hereford.
Samuel Smiths’ 2016 refurbishment of the Fitzroy Tavern in London’s West End produced some fabulous cut and etched glass panels (as well as excellent woodwork and ceramics) and the Public Bar windows could easily be mistaken for Victorian craftsmanship (below left). The spectacular £1.5 million refurbishment of the Boleyn Tavern in East Ham by Remarkable Pubs produced some equally impressive door glass (below centre). And the replacement Public Bar door panels at St Stephen’s Tavern in Westminster, commissioned by Hall & Woodhouse Brewery (below right) are on a par with the art nouveau originals. The brilliant cut and etched glass for both the Boleyn Tavern and St Stephens Tavern was produced by RS Glass Design.
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Other pub-owning companies to have invested in new decorative glass in recent years include Thwaites, Wetherspoons, Fullers, Marstons and Greene King. Many pub companies will not be prepared to spend the money required for top quality windows but may be able to look at something less fancy. The same applies to licensees who own their own pubs and don’t have the finances of the big companies
Gilmour’s Brewery windows are quite common on pubs in Sheffield and over the years a few have been broken or damaged. Some pubs have ordered replacement copies like those at the New Barrack Tavern in Hillsborough (below left). The glass looks new, but otherwise, like the glass at St Stephens Tavern, it is hard to distinguish them from the originals. Good as they are though, the basic etched glass design means they don’t look quite as impressive. The main window of the Champion of the Thames in Cambridge has been broken and replaced many times. The current etched glass version is good but doesn’t match the quality of the cut glass original. And also in Cambridge at top beer pub the Live and Let Live, the entrance door sports a basic but contemporary and playful etched window which may not meet the full approval of cat lovers.
For pubs that can’t afford even basic etched glass at least one firm is offering self-adhesive film which the licensee can apply to existing glass using a soapy water solution!
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and Live and Let Live (right), both Cambridge
Stained and leaded glass is also a feature in pubs and I’ve written a short illustrated article about this: Stained Glass in Pubs.
A fuller range of pubs with decorative translucent glass can be found here: Cut & Etched Glass in Pubs.
Sources
Brandwood, Geoff. Britain’s best real heritage pubs, Campaign For Real Ale, 2013
Brandwood, Geoff, Andrew Davison & Michael Slaughter. Licensed to sell: the history and heritage of the public house, English Heritage, 2004
Brewery History website breweryhistory.com/
Girouard, Mark. Victorian pubs, Yale University Press, 1984
Outstanding Conversions and Restorations website ocrpubs.camra.org.uk/
Pub Heritage website pubheritage.camra.org.uk/
One of the best replacement etched glass windows is at the Blue Bell in Fossgate, York. The pub’s single large window in the front wall was smashed by vandals some years ago, and the customers clubbed together to sponsor a replacement.
Most rural pubs, and many smaller back-street urban ones, did not run to etched glass windows. In my native Norfolk, they were usually fitted with window-screens to ensure that people could not see into the pub. These were rectangular timber frames, the size of the lower half of the window, surrounding metal sheets perforated with small holes (to allow some light to penetrate). The window-screens slotted into grooves on the inside of the window, so that they could be removed for cleaning. The metal was usually painted black, and often had either the brewery name or trade-mark painted on it, or a room name (‘bar’, ‘smoke room’, etc).
Yes, I agree that the Blue Bell replacement window is a good one. I’ve got a photo of it here.
And yes, good point, all my examples of etched glass windows are from urban pubs. There is an example of the window screen you describe at the Three Horseshoes in Warham, though as I’m sure you know, it’s from another pub.