Liverpool Pub Crawl - The Grapes

 

The Grapes on 60 Roscoe Street has stood on the corner since 1775 and although the current building dates back to 1804, it was built on the site of an earlier tavern whose history is lost in the mists of time. The pub is known as the Little Grapes to differentiate it from its namesake in Mathew Street and offers up to nine ales at any one time. Inside you would be forgiven for feeling as if you had been transported from the centre of town to the more familiar surroundings of your local, with an array of hugs as welcome as the bartender instantly pouring your drink as your eyes meet. As well as the air of familiarity and homely comfort The Grapes has a continental feel to it, and due to the benched seating area and open booths you are just as likely to find yourself befriending a pair of Hungarian tourists as you are in the company of long-forgotten ex work colleagues and educational acquaintances. A Sunday evening Grapes session means you hear an equal amount of Spanish tongues as you do 'Scouse', undoubtedly due to the city’s multicultural attitude as to the Latin jazz band playing in the corner.

The ghosts of the pub’s past are even written in gilt and wood above its doors. As you approach the green-painted corner pub, you notice not a sign saying The Grapes, but battered gilt and wood name boards, now under glass, proclaiming this to be the home of 'Mellor's Noted Wines & Spirits'. Licensee Anna Slater believes those signs, repaired with the help of conservationists from National Museums Liverpool, date back to the 1840s, but the pub itself is older still and is very hunted says Anna. "We get people walking up and down the bar, doors banging upstairs, and heavy fire doors opening and closing. I’ve seen ghosts myself. There’s something like 17 different people we can identify."

 

After a major refurbishment during the summer of 2016, an extension has made the pub larger. Stairs now lead to a partly sheltered patio area, atop the extension. The bar has been reconfigured, the windows are bigger and newly painted burnt orange walls are strewn with artwork and twinkling fairy lights, The warm new room looks like it could be a place to sit and eat. Most of the hand pumps serve beers from local and regional smaller breweries with one pump regularly serving a real cider.  There is also an extensive selection of rums. The Sunday night jazz is some of the best you will find in the country, Jazz Con Fusion is now the longest running uninterrupted jazz night in the city.