The Counting House is a Grade II Listed Building that was originally The National Westminster bank, and still has a former vault inside. The name of the pub is a reminder of the buildings former use.
British Listed Buildings describes the building as follows;
"WAN BANK (West Side)
No 18
The Counting House
(Formerly listed as National Westminster Bank)
GV
II
Late C19. Tudor style. Stone; 2 storeys; slightly projecting bay at
centre having sham timber framing at 1st storey and projecting gable,
4-light mullioned and transomed window and a 5-light mullioned and transomed
window below; canted bay on left-hand side, tiered over 2 storeys and
with mullioned and transomed windows; polygonal bartisan on right-hand
aide surmounted by slated pinnacle roof with finial; 2 pointed arched
doorways with hood moulds, that on right with 16-fielded-panelled divided
door and that on left with similar door of 12 panels; stone clustered
stacks; steep hipped roof of green slates. Pointed arched gateway on
right-hand side."
SOURCE: (
visit link)
The pub occupies a former branch of the NatWest Bank. The building was a bank until 1995 and had been a bank for over 100years.
The distinctive Tudor-style building had originally been the Moreton Arms, named after a powerful family who had been local landowners for centuries. They lived nearby at Little Moreton Hall, one of the finest Elizabethan timber-framed buildings in the country.
The first bank to use the building was the Manchester and Liverpool Banking Company in 1876. The bank paid £10,000 to buy and adapt the premises of the Moreton Arms hotel. A previous Moreton Arms, that had been on part of the same site was a coaching inn. Another part of the building was occupied by Starkey’s shoe shop.
Source: (
visit link)
The JD Wetherspoon pub offers a range of real ales, craft beers and freshly ground Lavazza coffee. Breakfast is served until noon, with their full food menu available until 11pm.
There is still a Chatwood–Milner bank vault inside the pub that is now used as a dining area.
(
visit link)