This pub is a listed building and it is on both the National Inventory and the London Regional Inventory where the description is as follows: “One of the best examples anywhere to show how a typical, large, 1930s housing estate pub might have looked. It is in the popular, loosely neo-Georgian style combined with 1930s Art Deco streamlining – whence with broad curve which turns the corner from one elevation to the other. The Doctor Johnson opened in 1938 and was designed by the architect H. Reginald Ross for Courage, one of whose directors was an enthusiast of the great lexicographer. The latter appears high up on each elevation in bas-relief portraits by artist Arthur Betts. Architecturally the pub is not at all unusual for its time but what makes it special is the survival of the internal layout, four rooms, each with its own bar counter, ranged around the central serving area. On the corner is the quadrant-shaped snug with Art Deco details. Left is the large public bar and right comes the saloon. Behind is a vast lounge which gives on to the garden. There are many original features to look out for such as the curvy Art Deco cornices in the snug and public bar, the fireplaces with their upright tiled decoration in the same rooms, the remnants of the revolving door to the saloon, and the incised and colour vertical lettering to loo doors. Note the estate agent’s office on the left. This was originally an off-licence linked to the pub cellar by a below-ground passage.” I could not find the listing description.

The Doctor Johnson featured on the Daytime Crawl of Woodford Green, Barkingside, Ilford and Barking in June 2008.