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MERSEYSIDE - Liverpool City Centre, Vines National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part One 81 Lime Street, Liverpool, L1 1JQ Tel: 0151 709 3977 Public Transport: Railway Station: Liverpool Lime Street; Mersey Rail: Central Listed Status: Grade II* View this pub on a local map
The Vines, built in 1907, is, like its sister pub, the rather earlier Philharmonic, one of the great show pubs of the country. Both were the work of the local architect, Walter Thomas for the brewer, Robert Cain. No back-street, working man's local this - it was built as an up-market place of refreshment for those who prospered from Liverpool's role as a one of the great commercial centres of the Empire. The exterior has been described rightly as 'a strange and original amalgam, with elements of baroque, steep gables and a jaunty domed tower'. The interior is a tremendous display of mahogany, oak and plasterwork. Of particular note are the fireplaces, set back-to-back in the bar and smoke room. The have beaten copper surrounds. In the bar there are Corinthian pilasters and columns (similar to those in the Philharmonic), and flanking caryatids flanking the fireplace.
In the smoke room there inlaid panelling, a plaster frieze in high relief with lively putti engaged in various activities, and a coloured relief of a Viking ship. At the rear there is a huge, ornate room which, like the one at the Philharmonic, has been converted from a billiard hall. It has a giant order of Corinthian pilasters, a richly decorated ceiling, a stained glass dome and enormous fireplace. One significant chance at the Vines has been the shortening of the main bar counter to provide easier access to the rear parts and the loos.
Source: notes by Ted Hubbard for the Victorian Society, Dec 1967 from which some of the above text is taken.
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