Saving the Alice Hawthorn- a critical meeting point for the local community

The Alice Hawthorn pub is located in the historic medieval village of Nun Monkton. Its location at the confluence of the river Ouse and Nidd, resulted in the village becoming an important historic hub of the river transport network of Northern England, with many travellers stopping there overnight.

With road infrastructure replacing river transport, the village consequently lost its significance as a nexus of transportation and travellers. Today, the medieval village has retained many of its ‘old world’ characteristics and has a tranquil charm luring visitors from afar to see both the tallest maypole in England and one of the last remaining working greens in Yorkshire. Over recent years, the village’s last remaining pub, a critical meeting point for the local community, has come under threat. This demise is sadly consistent with socio-economic and legal changes that have adversely impacted the sustainability of pubs across the whole country.

Creating an innovative new economy around such community assets was at the heart of our project. Its social and economic sustainability so crucial to the health and well-being of any rural community. Extensive community consultations were held throughout the design process to listen carefully to the local community and to create a scheme that accommodates its needs and ambitions. To become solvent long term and to continue to provide the community with a shared social space, the Alice Hawthorn needed to increase its appeal to a broader audience and attract a wider catchment of customers. Our scheme proposes to transform and extend the last remaining Grade II listed pub in the village, into an inn, in its very literal and original sense.

The scheme proposes twelve ensuite guest bedrooms, four of which are on the first floor of the pub and eight around a new courtyard which extends the village green as a public space into the rear ‘garth’, yard, of the pub. The design concept for the new courtyard takes inspiration from the Norse translation of ‘garth’ as ‘grassy cloister’ or ‘clearing in the woods’, creating a sense of quiet enclosure and a notional extension of the village green: a place of gathering for both people and animals.

The scheme also seeks to reflect the character of the various adjacent informal farmyards, sheds and outhouses. New timber framed buildings are placed into this context and with the use of authentic agricultural building materials, such as galvanised corrugated steel roofing and timber cladding, creates a sense that the animals had only recently moved out.

A simple construction typology is adopted that genuinely reflects the way the structure is built.  The structural frames are sustainably sourced and made from home-grown Douglas Fir.  Other sustainability measures for this EPC ‘A’ grade , low energy building include the use of ground source heat pump providing heating and hot water, high levels of insulation and airtightness above building regulations, a sustainable drainage system, a natural ventilation strategy by means of high level clerestory windows and rooflights on actuators and improved biodiversity through extensive planting and habitat creation.

In contrast to the more traditional pub interiors, the new build elements have no plaster and are lined internally in sustainably sourced Larch boarding and Poplar plywood.  The only decorations on the walls internally are lino cut prints undertaken by the village primary school children who also have a veg patch at the back of the garth.