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MichaelJM
MichaelJM
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
2
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Editor Pick

The Bank

  • August 22, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by MichaelJM from Nottingham, England
The Bank

This pub, just off the centre of town, is based in one of the town’s old libraries – an important historical building which has retained many of its original features.

It was back in the early 1800s that a group of local businessmen decided that the City needed a library and they, after further debate, agreed that it should incorporate a newsroom. The money for this initiative was raised by subscription and those contributing would be deemed to be shareholders in the venture. However, this was not to be “any old reading room” it needed to reflect the intellectual importance of acquiring knowledge and, as importantly, the social standing of its investors. So they chose their prime site in, according to John Dalton (a benefactor), “the most elegant and retire street in town.”

Of course this proposed grand building needed a leading architecture and Thomas Harrison (a classical revivalist) was chosen to conceive a worthy edifice. The group had wasted no time and three years after the initial discussion the impressive Portico Library was opened. The shareholders lapped it up and not only were they here to study, learn and impress their townsfolk but whilst doing it they could purchase refreshments.

Now, a decade later, people are gathering in this fascinating building to socialise, eat and, “yes” they do still read. Indeed “the Bank” has its entrance set out as a reading room, memories of that bygone age. But why is an old library call “the Bank”? Well that’s easy to answer, because in the 1920s the ground floor of this building was taken over by the Bank of Athens (most appropriate as there are distinct Athenian qualities to the building). The brewery took it over in the 1980s and I guess felt “The Bank” was a better name for their new pub than “The Library”!

I was introduced to this great building by a work colleague and we both went for a decent pint and a quick meal before visiting a couple of the real ale pubs in the town. Just imagine as you're sitting at the pub table how the library’s patrons would have pored over books and discussed weighty affairs. The like of Sir Robert Peel (the man who introduced the modern day police force to England); John Dalton (Quaker and important chemist and physicist); Peter Roget (of thesaurus fame); Elizabeth Gaskell (novelist); Richard Cobden (a manufacturer, but more important an eminent politician involved in the Corn law legislation) all frequented here.

At the end of the day the food is fairly average. It's good honest pub grub served in a now nonsense manner. You order and pay at the bar and you're then given a numbered flag to take to your table. We didn't have to wait too long and I was soon tucking into an ample and well-prepared meal of rump steak (medium rare), chunky chip and peas. It was nothing extraordinary, until you re-focus on the stunning setting. It positively exudes history!

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