Not Unique Then

 Many readers will already have some idea of the story behind the Comet Hotel at the end of Comet Way, Hatfield, and its connection with the de Havilland Aircraft Company which moved from Stag Lane to Harpsfield Hall Farm in the early 1930s.

Neo tudor in Bristol Road South, Birmingham

Solid decorated brick approach o the Oxford Road.

But there is also another story which needs to be related and that is about Comet Way itself.  This highway arrived on the scene, though  initially as a single carriageway, as one element of the national arterial road expansion following the First World War.  The road as a whole was known as the North Orbital and this section as part of the Barnet Bypass.  In order to connect the road now known as Comet Way to the Great North Road (A1) and avoid causing traffic being funnelled through old Hatfield, land was acquired from the Great Nast Hyde estate to build the road from today's Comet roundabout down to the Roehyde interchange.  

Ernest Musman's design for The Comet at Ellenbrook, Hatfield in 1936.

The restored The Comet completed in 2019.

Land left over was targeted by Benskins Watford Brewery, one of several brewery chains taking advantage of potential sites along the new highways for what were then labelled roadhouses: an amalgam of the traditional public house, restaurants serving popular fare and basic hotel accommodation.

Many chains were attracted by the comfortable Georgian-style  structures – brick and exposed beams, snug fireplaces and bold chimneys, which shouted out warmth and comfort.

However, Benskins wished to strike out in a different direction for selected sites it acquired and engaged the services of architect Ernest B Musman.  Musman's new roadhouse properties include the Berkeley Arms at Cranford, the Myles Arms at Perivale, and the Bull & Butcher at Whetstone.

The architectural style of modernism, an adaptation of the clean-cut art deco was used to good effect in the design of The Comet which Benskins opened in 1936.  Musman therefore adapted the ship bridge  concept often used for art deco frontages to the spread of an airliner, the new concept in passenger air travel.  The cockpit became a lounge, the fuselage became the restaurant, distance was placed between the saloon and public bars with shortened "wings",  and bedrooms spread out on the first floor.  A lantern and compass both adorned the roof above.  The purpose? To reflect the nearby location of de Havilland Aircraft Company's new site alongside the new highway, whose building frontages were also art deco in design.

The story all came together so well.  Especially as the traditional hanging signs in Benskin's new roadhouses were dispensed with.  Instead at The Comet stood what was thought to be a unique sculptural form, a pillar depicting outlines of eighteen different kinds of flight. Atop the pillar was a maquette version of the racing Comet used in the 1934 Air Race.  This would be visible the full length of the new highway.

But it seems the uniqueness of The Comet to its particular de Havilland  location was not quite – unique!

The Nag's Head in Bishops Stortford when new in 1934.

Recent image of the Nag's Head, the frontage looking remarkably similar to Musman's Hatfield counterpart.

The replaced entrance sign – compare with the
original in the monochrome image.

Travel a few miles north to Bishops Stortford and Benskins had used Musman in a, you might say, dress rehearsal.  Take a visit to the Nag's Head, at the town end of Dunmow Road and you might realise you have arrived at something familiar.  Now a McMullens establishment Musman created the design for Nag's Head for a Benskins opening in 1934.  The front elevation is almost a carbon copy of the Comet with its cockpit, fuselage, wings and first floor accommodation.  And where The Comet has its sculptural pillar with maquette atop, we are welcomed to Nags with a more formalised triangular pillar; although not the original it has been redesigned in similar style.

So, what was the story behind the plan for the Nag's Head that made both end up so similar?  Probably the reduced time taken – and therefore the cost – on The Comet's plans would have made it a less expensive project for Benskins.  When we discuss the story of The Comet we should also include references to the Nag's Head; after all, they have a common heritage.