SE2932 : Fireplace in the Grove Inn
taken 1 year ago, near to Leeds, England
In 2014 the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) produced a book titled "Yorkshire's Real Heritage Pubs" (ISBN 978-1-85249-315-8). These are pubs that might be listed for their exterior architecture, or serve great real ale, but not all: inclusion in the collection is for their unaltered historic interiors representing mostly the Victorian and Edwardian era with features such as brass, carved wood, real fires, mosaics and tiling. This shared description will cover the 47 listed in West Yorkshire as I visit them.
According to a CAMRA guide to Leeds pubs published in 1993, the Grove was granted a public house licence in 1838, having been a mere 'alehouse' before that. It was much altered by John Smith's brewery a century later in 1929, at which time it was in an area of back-to-back houses and factories. Nearly a hundred years on, the area has been redeveloped with high-rise apartment and office blocks, but the pub survives and retains many of the 1920s features including the layout of the various bars and bench seating; the 1993 guide mentioned above described it at that time as 'recently refurbished'. These earn it a place in CAMRA's regional heritage list.