Urban Inns

Burford's earliest surviving inn building is the front part of the New Inn at 124 High Street (built c.1401). More extensive traces of courtyard layouts survive at the George Inn, the former Bear Inn, and within the later structure of the Bull. The best preserved is the George, where the gateway leads to two parallel courtyard ranges converted into cottages in the 19th century (Figure 91).

In the 18th and early 19th centuries competition for the coaching trade affected the inns' architecture. The Bull's new brick and stone façade (probably added c.1715)was no doubt aimed at making it unmistakable to the visitor arriving by coach, and the rebuilding also enabled the heights of the rooms in the street range to be increased.