The Vine, Nottingham

A corner pub of a sort I thought was long gone, if the decor hadn’t been updated in the early eighties I’d have said join me on a trip to the 1960s. A handful of the well known National kegs awaits along with leatherette chairs, fortunately at wooden tables on cast iron bases rather than the period authentic formica. Carpet tiled floor, this is now single room pub although there’s a back room with sound equipment and 1970s wallpaper. Being more up to date than I suggest it has a Guinness USB charging station, as well as a screen, machine, darts board and local radio as sound track. A very old if mistreated pub, the double doors at the front are curved to fit the building.

The vine is situated just behind the busy Carlton road on a small area that used to have many pubs all bunched together but is now sadly one of the few survivors. It has a curved corner entrance which has a bit of a London boozer look about it. Upon entering the only room I saw was the main bar room which was a medium sized square room with the bar at the back corner. This is very much a local’s pub and rarely gets visitors from outside the local area and it seemed like a bit of a shock to the regular clientele that two outsiders had wondered in but no one was unpleasant, just more surprised than anything. We unfortunately wondered in right in the middle of bingo that everyone w=was playing even the landlady which left us standing at the bar for a very awkward ten minutes in silence while they finished their game. Once we got served the usual keg selection presented us but they did have a few more boring options than most with the choice of John Smiths, Worthington’s or Boddington for bitter. We opted for Boddingtons but were told they didn’t have any so had a Guinness instead at wallet friendly £3 and it was kept well enough. We sat in the corner and watched as the pub played another round of bingo. The pub is very plain and in a traditional 60’s no nonsense style with very little in way of decor. The people were all ok and minded their own business but this is really only a pub for convenience if you live nearby and has nothing whatsoever to attract visitors from outside the area so I probably won’t be bothering again.