106-110, Academy Street, Inverness

Rubble with rendered ground floor and margins. To Academy Street, 2 storeys and attic, later 19th century bar frontage with chamfered openings at ground floor; 5 windows, (1 tripartite) at 1st floor. Piended roof. To Rose Street, Victorian ground floor frontage, 4 windows (3 tripartite) at 1st floor, 4 piended dormers (3 tripartite) rising from just below wallhead.Multi-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows above ground. Slated roof. Coped ashlar stacks with cans and thackstanes.INTERIOR: good early decorative scheme retained including shallow vestibule with part-glazed timer doors and curved, etched side windows. Public bar has boarded dadoes, anaglypta ceiling covering, original island counter with panelled front, terrazzo spittoon trough and 3 disused Dalex tall fonts.

This early burgh building retains an interesting and somewhat rare island bar to its ground floor interior. A once common feature in public houses the spartan public bar is of classic Scottish island bar-style. The gantry was replaced in 1983 and the interior may have been divided into two as the floor pattern indicates the existence of a partition. A water engine, formerly used to raise beer from the cellar, has been converted to electric power and can be seen in an illuminated case high up on the rear wall of the bar. During the 1980s, the adjoining property facing Rose Street was incorporated into the public house. List description updated as part of Public Houses Thematic Study 2007-08. (Historic Scotland)

31 October 2013: External inspection finds the upper floors appear to be disused. The roof is in fair condition but the dormer windows have a number of broken panes which are boarded up from the inside. Rainwater goods are in poor condition with maintenance required. The majority of the upper windows are boarded up, where not boarded much maintenance is required. The Phoenix Bar is being advertised for sale or let through agent CDLH. In Nov 2007 authority was sought from the Inverness, Nairn , Badenoch and Strathspey Planning Applications Cttee for the serving of an enforcement notice requiring remedial works to the property. A site visit had taken place and found the upper floors windows broken and open to the elements, with the two front dormer windows were noted as having a sunken appearance. Photographs of the building submitted as part of the report (PLI-68/07) show the Academy Street windows before boarding took place.

24 February 2014: Highland Council has secured a stage 1 pass from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards a £1.67 million Townscape Heritage Initiative for Academy Street.

11 March 2014: The Inverness Courier reports on the purchase of the property by publican George Maclean who plans to re-open the main bar initially, with the lounge bar to re-open in a few months time. The new owner is noted as having no immediate plans for the upper floors of the building.

18 December 2019: External inspection finds the ground floor retail unit repainted and functioning as the Phoenix Ale House. Upper floors remain disused. Front dormers have now been boarded up. Rainwater goods are intact but rusting in sections, vegetation is clogging gutters in places.

10 February 2020: Listed Building Consent for the formation of 6 flats on the upper floors of the building being sought (ref: 20/00548/LBC).

8 June 2021: Ground floor remains in use as a bar and restaurant. Upper floors continue to gradually decline. The gutters appear to have been cleared since the 2019 visit. Roof and chimney stacks in need of maintenance. Windows are blocked or boarded up. 20/00549/FUL - Planning application for formation of 6 flats under consideration (submitted February 2020).

19 February 2024: Consent for creation of 6 flats in the upper floors has been withdrawn.