Bar Solo

History

Opened Building dates from 1885

Built

1885

Was

The grand entrance to the County Hotel

Restored

Mid-1990s, by Jackfield Conservation Studio

Don't judge this one by the name. Behind the modern sign at 1 Botchergate is one of the most decoratively intact Victorian interiors in Carlisle. A mid-1990s restoration revived its Burmantofts ceramic tiles, a mahogany ceiling and a pale-blue dragon frieze, carried out by the Jackfield Conservation Studio and the Decorative Tile Works. Burmantofts faience, the Leeds art pottery, is prized nationally, and a surviving tiled interior like this one is rare.

The building dates from 1885 and is described as originally the grand entrance to the County Hotel. Which County Hotel is a fair question. In 1885 that name belonged to the hotel at Court Square by the station, now the Carlisle Station Hotel, close by. The Botchergate Red Lion a few doors along, a scheme house and the Caledonian's neighbour, was rebuilt in 1894-96 and only became the County Hotel in 1990. Either way, Bar Solo is a piece of the Victorian hotel quarter at the top of Botchergate.

Regulars single out a member of staff who tells visitors the history of the building, which is exactly the right instinct. Small and atmospheric, with indoor and outdoor seating under awnings and heaters, prime people-watching by the Citadel, and late on Fridays and Saturdays.

Widely repeated locally, but we haven't found a source for it yet. Know one?