Known by some locals as “the Bug and Bite”, this Edwardian pub retains separate drinking areas consisting of a front public bar and two lounges along a corridor, all serviced from a central, glass panelled bar. It was planned by Robert Cain and the layout is similar to that seen in Stork in Birkenhead, the Prince Arthur in Walton and the Lion Tavern in Liverpool. The left side bar (off College Road) is wood panelled and the rear lounge is lined with mirrors and small partitions which provide some separate seating areas. The rear lounge can be hired. Sporting events are shown on the large TVs and there is a juke Box. The pub also hosts quizzes.
Two star - A pub interior of very special national historic interest
Listed status: Not listed
Refitted about 1900 for Robert Cain’s Brewery. An L-shaped corridor surrounds the public bar with rooms leading off on the other side of the corridor. Dado tiling survives in the vestibule entrances and lobby on the left, but, sadly, in the public bar it has been panelled over. The lobby bar-back retains some rising windows. On the left the Blue Room has fixed bench seating all around. The large rear room was the result of an extension into a smaller one, perhaps in the 1960s. Note the inscriptions ‘Public Bar’, ‘News Room’ and ‘Gentlemen’ in the etched and gold painted glazing.
Brick and part stone building with a rendered first floor. This appears to have been a c.1900 refitting, almost certainly for Robert Cain’s brewery. This is a fine pub and one to compare with other excellent Heritage pubs on Merseyside - the Stork; in Birkenhead, the Lion; and Prince Arthur; in Liverpool with an L-shaped corridor surrounding the public bar and rooms leading off the other side of the corridor. A difference from the Lion is that there is no glazing between the lower parts of the screen and the ceiling.
Vestibule entrances on the left and right with part glazed partitions/screens reaching to the ceiling. A few tiles from the c.1900 refitting are visible but most have been boarded over, probably in the 1930s when Victorian and Edwardian work was deeply unfashionable. In the public bar the pot-shelf is modern. The lobby bar back has two narrow bays with rising lower windows firmly fixed in the open position these days with an arch over the hatch for service; then two wide bays with the first one permanently in the down position and the second one is permanently open i.e. is a hatch for service. The two narrow sections on the corner have lost their lower rising panels; then there is a doorway and arch for service; and another two narrow bays - first is open for service and the second is permanently closed.
Near the corner door is an unusual piece of bar which has a radiator on either side which has been cut down in size and this is all that remains of the former off-sales area. The L-shaped bar has a wood-block floor, dado panelling around the walls which, locals say, covers the original tiled dado, a side window has a window screen of one main decorated etched and frosted large and two smaller panels and the front window has two similar window screens.
Lobby on the left has a dado of tiling. This lobby goes around the bar to the right and has fielded panelling to two-thirds height on the left and rear wall. 'Gentlemen' in gold on decorated etched and frosted window in the door to toilets. On the left is the Blue Room with doorway and fixed bench seating all around with new bell pushes in the wood panel above - this room did advertise 'Waitress service available at your table' until a few years ago.
In the porch on Jubilee Street side is tiling to dado height, a door with good centre circular 'Walker's' decorated etched and frosted panel and four others, 'Public Bar' in gold on door to the left, a decorated etched and frosted 'News Room' in gold on the inner door. The large rear room was the result of an extension to a smaller one, probably in the 1960s and has some fixed seating at the front that looks to date from c.1900 with the rear section being modern.
This Pub serves no changing beers and 2 regular beers.
Edinburgh, Liverpool