Who’s enjoyed a pint in this Grantham pub?

PARTLY in Vine Street,  the Blue pig is one of the town’s oldest buildings—but not the oldest pub.

 In fact there is no evidence that it was a licensed premises until 1826 and is probably a range of cottages which were  converted.

 It is one of the few Tudor buildings to survive Grantham’s major fires and is now admired by locals and visitors alike.

 Yet it hid its secret for centuries. It wasn’t until 1925, while examining the building for internal improvements, architect Wilfred Bond discovered it was originally a stone building with an oak-framed upper storey.

 The stone walls were uncovered and pointed while the timbers in the upper storey were exposed and the spaces plastered.

 It turned one of the town’s dingiest corners into one of its most valuable assets.

 Only four year’s earlier, in 1921, it was recommended for closure by Licensing Magistrates who said either the ‘Pig’ or the Artichokes should be closed on the grounds of redundancy.

 They said: “The Blue Pig is the most undesirable type of house.

 “It has badly arranged rooms, is low, dark and badly ventilated and altogether a building in bad condition.

“It should be either rebuilt or closed.”

 Fortunately, for my formative years, it survived all of these threats.