Profile: The Vine by Mervyn Edwards

How much do you know about the history of the Vine in Burslem?

A peculiar incident took place at the pub in April, 1864. Mary Brown, a hawker from Manchester who was staying in Burslem, encountered Alfred Delves of Bleak Hill, Burslem, in the pub. The latter was an assistant to Mr. Slater, a clock and watch maker of Market Place. These two left the pub together, “and went up an entry for an immoral purpose.” They afterwards parted company, but Slater realised that his watch had been taken. It was reported that “he went after her, but as he had a wooden leg, he fell down, and could not overtake her.” Brown subsequently sold the watch to a Jew for £1. She was later committed for trial.

As late as 1912, the Vine was still listed as a beerhouse, kept by proprietor G. S. Pierpoint. Not everyone knows that the Vine formerly stood on the corner of Moorland Road and Hamil Road before being demolished in the early 1930s and moved further along Hamil Road. It closed for a major facelift in late 1990 with the result that the old two-room arrangement, separating bar and lounge was changed in favour of an open plan look. Around this time, I was an occasional supervisor on the Burslem and Tunstall SPACE scheme, run by the police and helpers, the aim being to provide children’s activities during the school holidays. The Vine was very popular with off-duty constables in those days, the police station being a short distance away.

It is a pub well-known to the Potteries Pub Preservation Group and in particular its Chairman, Harold Harper who regular combines his drinking and pool playing skills at the hostelry.

A conspicuous feature of the pub is the framed “North Staffordshire Pub Crawl” illustration which depicts scores of pubs in pen-and-ink. This was donated by PPPG in 2005 in order to commemorate the life of former member Bernard Frain who was well-known at the Vine and other Burslem pubs.

The long-serving licensee of the Vine is Bernard Mountford, an adept pool player himself, who regularly serves plates of chips with bread and butter on darts evenings.

Visible price lists are all too rare in the licensed trade, meaning that you do not know how much your pint is going to cost you until you are asked to pay for it. However, this pub boasts a chalkboard, clearly listing the Real Ales and their prices. It is well worth a call.