The Old Punch Bowl is a medieval timber-framed Wealden hall house on the High Street in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England.

[7] Furthermore, the site is very close to the ancient junction of the east–west and northeast–southwest trackways and rudimentary roads which ran between the main furnaces and forges in the area, at places such as Ifield and Bewbush.

A timber skeleton would have been surrounded by walls of wattle and daub containing plenty of clay,[12] which is the main component of the soil in the Crawley area.

[13] All of these characteristics were typical of "Wealden" houses—a mediaeval style whose name reflects their prevalence in the Weald, the area of southeast England in which Crawley is situated.

[14] The building originally occupied 1 acre (0.4 ha), but its landholding gradually expanded as the owners acquired more land in Crawley, Ifield and Worth parishes.

[7] By 1600, several barns and similar buildings—all with thatched roofs—surrounded it, and the property had become a farm[1] called Bristows Meads, nominally owned by a member of the wealthy Stydolf family from Headley in neighbouring Surrey.

The interior was opened out, a single entrance door was created, the old barns and outbuildings were either removed or integrated with the main building, and 0.5 acres (0.2 ha) of ornamental gardens were planted.

[3] The tearoom had a short life but was successful and popular, especially during the Second World War when it doubled as a military mess, dance-hall and YMCA meeting place.

The alterations were sympathetic to the building's style: wood from an ancient demolished church at Treyford near Midhurst was used for internal fittings, and the entrance doorway and an extension at the rear were built of local stone.

[24] The bank attempted to maintain the character and ambience of the building by filling the rooms with rare antiques;[23] staff often had to rebuff tourists who wanted to buy them.

[23] The freehold of the property was then bought by Greene King Brewery, who converted it into a public house and reinstated the name "The Old Punch Bowl".

Internal and external alterations were made, including the removal of the bank's stone-built extension; this was replaced by outside seating and a patio area.

The bays at the north and south ends had joists to support exterior jettying, which originally extended about 18 inches (46 cm) over the floor below.