Pinegrove Hotel bar

History

Opened Hotel dates from 1859

Building

Victorian villa, 1859

Run by the Middleton family

2003 to 2022

Sold

November 2022, to Karpal Singh Sohal

The facade of the Pinegrove carries a date of 1877 and the initials "SB", for Sam Boustead, the Carlisle butcher and bacon curer who also owned the Red Lion Hotel on Botchergate, now the County Hotel, the same man Historic England's listing for that building calls Samuel Bousfield. A tender was advertised in the Carlisle Journal on 6 October 1876, with John Stewart as architect.

It is an extended Victorian home rather than a pub, the sort of substantial villa that lined the approaches into Carlisle, dating from 1859; whether 1877 marks a rebuild of the 1859 villa or simply an extension isn't settled. It was later extended again and turned into a hotel, and keeps a good deal of original detail. The name most likely comes from the original villa and its grounds, though nobody has documented it. One long-standing guest review claims the house was once owned by the Bishop of Carlisle; nobody has documented that either, and it stays a tradition rather than a fact.

There is no State Management link here: a private commercial concern throughout, a reminder that plenty of Carlisle's drinking places sat entirely outside the scheme. The Otter at Little Corby is the clearest example of a pub that stayed private, a mile from a village pub the state did take.

It changed hands in November 2022. The Middleton family had run it since 2003, the younger generation, Chris and Sophie, taking over after their father's death in 2019 and steering it through the pandemic before deciding it was time to pass it on. It sold to Karpal Singh Sohal, who said plainly that the bar would stay open to non-residents and set out plans for an Indian restaurant on the premises, to add flavour and culture to the hotel. Whether that restaurant opened has not been confirmed.

Twenty-odd rooms now, with a restaurant, bar and the Wedgewood Suite for weddings and parties; the exact room count varies by listing, from twenty-four to thirty. The bar serves guests and diners rather than working as a walk-in local, so know what you're going to before you set off.