The Vine Hotel, Chapel St Leonards

A change in scenery this week as I’m in Chapel St Leonards on the coast. It was a refreshing change from recording the urban pubs of Boston which have been ticking along now for almost three weeks, with over 30 sites visited.

My focus today is the Vine Hotel. The Vine is of note for its place within the history of Chapel St Leonard's – even in its inter-war form, it predates most of the buildings in its immediate area. It is also an excellent example of an interwar pub built in neo-Jacobean style, mixed with features from Arts and Crafts buildings. Its symmetrical butterfly plan, pitched gables, and towering stacks at the rear are comparable to other pubs built during this period. At ground level on the front facade, was a four-bay projection with arches. Originally, this formed an open loggia, or covered exterior gallery, since glazed to provide additional seating.

Built in the early 19^th Century, The Vine stands at the end of what became known as South Road. Back then, Chapel St Leonard's was just a small agricultural village with tourism in its infancy. A 1926 advert posted in the Nottingham Journal tells us that The Vine was ‘ideal for restful holidays, splendid sands and natural sea hills.’ In 1928 the Skegness Standard reported the sea air at Chapel St Leonard's provided a ‘champagne-like affect’, that left visitors with the desire to ‘walk on air’. In 1936-7, The Vine was rebuilt by Thomas Smith and Sons Ltd, based in Mansfield. The Hotel provided 24 bedrooms with the latest facilities and gardens that ran up to the seafront as well as lawn tennis courts. (Please click on the title of this story to see an older photo).

Prior to redevelopment, The Vine didn’t always enjoy a good reputation; excess drinking on the premises was commonplace and in the evening the dining hall doubled as an illegal gambling den (apparently Whist being the game of choice). The renovation of The Vine from a ‘country pub’ into a ‘fine new structure with umpteen bedrooms and every mod con', was hugely admired by a 1930s motorist. Like many interwar pub redevelopments, The Vine aimed to lose its reputation for drunkenness to broaden its appeal to families and visitors in the area.