Waterloo Hotel & Bistro Restaurant, Newport

Doulton faience bar front of 1904. Substantial Edwardian three-storey pub with one of the most impressive interiors in the whole of Wales including one of only two remaining tiled counters (the other is at the Golden Cross, Cardiff.Rebuilt in 1904 mostly of red brick with terracotta detailing and impressive corner turreted clock tower, it is situated opposite the main entrance to Newport Docks. The entrance in Alexandra Road leads to a terrazzo-floored lobby/reception with a dado of green tiles and Queen Anne detailing on the staircase.

The Smoke Room has an impressive ceramic bar counter - one of only eleven left in the whole of the UK. It is of Doulton faïence in five sections separated by columns with decorative capitals in deep yellow with floral tiled panels in bright blue. - only eleven remaining in the whole of the UK. Other Heritage Pubs with a ceramic bar counter are the Black Horse, Preston, Lancashire; Burlingtons Bar (at the Town House), St Annes on Sea, Lancashire; Mountain Daisy, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear; Red Lion, Erdington, Birmingham; Polar Bear, Hull, Yorkshire, East; White Hart Hotel, Hull, Yorkshire, East; Garden Gate, Hunslet, Leeds, Yorkshire, West; Golden Cross, Cardiff, X Glamorgan, Wales; and Crown, Belfast, Z Northern Ireland.

Other examples can be found at Horse & Jockey, Wednesbury, West Midlands where a small part on the left has been lost; Castle, Manchester City Centre; and Hark to Towler, Tottington, Manchester, Gtr where the bar has been moved; Gunmakers Arms, Lozells, Birmingham where only a small part remains; Waterloo Hotel & Bistro, Newport, X Gwent, Wales which has no public bar facility; and there is one in China Red which was the Coach & Horses, Dunswell, East Yorks and now operates as a Chinese Restaurant.

This terrazzo-floored room retains its original mahogany bar back with mirror panels but the pot shelf is a modern addition. To access the large public bar an arch was cut into the dividing wall from the smaller smoke room in recent years; this leads to the large main bar and its original corner entrance has been blocked up. The terrazzo floor indicates there was a small separate room, possibly an off sales on the left side of the room. Again this retains its splendid original mahogany bar back lining two sides and another L-shaped ornately tiled bar counter. However, only half of the counter still remains, the other half having been removed and reputedly sold and shipped to America in the early 1980s.

Note the etched windows (some replacements) announcing 'Vaults' and 'Workman's Dining Room' - the latter being the room on the left of the entrance lobby which operated as a snack bar with 1950s fittings until the pub closed in 2002. After renovations it reopened as the Waterloo Hotel & Bistro Restaurant in 2007. With no public bar facility, it is currently open to diners and residents.