Among Nottingham’s huge array of historical pubs, The Bath Inn, near the LeftLion offices in Sneinton Market, is one of our favourites, distinctive for its quasi-Egyptian decor, beautiful flower arrangements and the rich sense of history that hits you from the first step you take through the door. We visited for a chat with the Nottingham-born landlord Piers Baker, previously a rose grower by trade, to find out how the 19th century bar became the unique spot that it is today.
When we think of history, the first things that come to mind are often the grandest. Inventors and innovators, momentous events, monuments and monarchy. Sometimes however, history is more modest; right there on your doorstep, in your marketplace, or at your local pub.
Nottingham is lucky to have a brilliant selection of well known historical pubs scattered throughout the city; The Angel in Hockley with its 17th century chapel, the cosy cave nooks of Derby Road’s Hand in Heart, and of course The Trip to Jerusalem, sitting under the shadow of Castle Rock - there’s many more to mention too. Each with their own character, peculiarities, and tales to tell, I love to sit and muse over the pints, fights, merriment and general misadventures that may have happened in these community dens. Dependable and welcoming, pubs define a district and bring our history to life.
Last year however, I found a new favourite drinking hole in Sneinton Market, one which is doing just that to make the area beautiful, inviting and treasured.
I was ageing and the work was physical, so it was either spend my whole life in rose fields and pubs elsewhere, or spend my whole life in my own pub
Admittedly, I was a little late to the game when I visited The Bath Inn, it having reopened under new management in 2021. On my first visit I felt like Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris, unknowingly stepping into a different era; the sultry lighting and sumptuous decor, the jazz musician figurines, the Tamara de Lempicka artwork, and the fact someone hopped onto the piano to start a singsong. It's the kind of pub you want to sit and drink red wine in all night. If I was a pub, this is the pub I’d like to be.
On subsequent visits, I began to notice and admire the attention to detail - in the original features brought to life with fresh decor, the ornate, carefully chosen knick knacks, the dozens of old Sneinton photos framed on the walls, the fresh flowers, and the chalk illustrations of local flower merchants above the bar. Deciding I needed to know more I struck up a conversation with the landlord Piers Baker to find out what inspired such a unique pub.
Not always a publican by trade, Nottingham born-and-bred Piers came from a family of rose growers who had lived in Nottingham for generations. Naturally he gathered a penchant for cultivating flowers during long summer holidays when he was a child. “If I wanted pocket money, the answer was no, but I was thrown out into the rose fields to earn my own money,” he explains. This skill would guide the next 35 years of his life.
With an itch to travel the world, at age seventeen Piers applied for a job growing roses in New Zealand. He wouldn’t hear back for a year, until an unexpected phone call. “I was in Foreman's Pub, and the landlord said ‘Piers, a phone call for you’. I was expecting a girlfriend or whatever, but it was a guy called Laurie Bell in New Zealand. He conducted the interview with me over the phone on that Tuesday evening in the pub, and on the Thursday I was on the plane to New Zealand. I worked for him for twenty years growing roses over there,” he explains.
The next few decades saw Piers move around, following the rose growing season, first in European countries such as Denmark, Belgium and Germany, before heading to New Zealand and Australia and then over to America. When covid hit, and travel was curtailed, he found himself stuck in the UK. “I was ageing and the work was physical, so it was either spend my whole life in rose fields and pubs elsewhere, or spend my whole life in my own pub.”
By chance, a friend owned the recently unoccupied Bath Inn, just off Sneinton marketplace and Victoria Park. Piers snapped it up, and a new chapter in the story of Sneinton pubs began. “Nobody wanted to take it, because it had a rough reputation,” he explains. “But everyone needs a bit of luck in life and my luck with this place was the timing of it. There’s been a lot of investment in this area, and it’s ready for a pub like this. It probably wouldn’t have been five or six years ago even.”
Piers got to work renovating the bar from top to bottom, preserving and restoring original features, whilst adding a plethora of details. “I knew nothing about running a pub, had never pulled a pint before, but I was a massively experienced customer,” he explains. “I was lucky enough to go to lovely bars and restaurants all over the world. Little did I know that years later it would turn out to be a great advantage because I ended up being a publican.”
The Bath was built in the early-mid 19th century and became a bar around 1852. Its ornate facade of patterned tiles was added in 1926 in the Egyptian revival style that had become all the rage during the Roaring Twenties after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. The building is now Grade II listed. Piers immediately saw the potential.
“This is one of the great examples in the country of an Egyptian facade, so that makes it even more special,” he explains. “When we took it over it looked dreary, even the tiles. All it took was a bit of cleaning up and it came to life. It just needed a bit of TLC.”
Today the exterior of the pub is certainly a sight to behold. Merging his passion for flowers, Piers maintains over eighty hanging flower baskets which decorate the building in the summer, along with small evergreen trees that hang in the winter. The spectacle is a hit with both patrons and passers-by: “When I'm out there, doing some gardening, people always stop and compliment the pub. They get enjoyment from the flowers and that also gives me more drive to continue to do it.”
With a pub you are creating a community. If I drop off the planet tomorrow and I've improved this area, then that is far more important than what's in the bank
Inside however, the detail is equally exquisite; glass chandeliers, an open fire, carved brass coat hooks shaped like elephant heads, and a replica Tutankhamun sarcophagus are just a few of the features. “I thought there should be an acknowledgement to the Egyptian style, but it's just a nod to the facade. I didn't want some daft Egyptian themed pub. Everything in here has relevance to it.”
Many of the most unique pieces are specially commissioned, including the 1920s diver, a mascot painted on the exterior of the building which also appears throughout, from the lifesize mannequin swimming over the bar to subtly etched on door push plates. The original artwork by artist Julia Whitehead is also framed inside.
Another significant facet which gives a fascinating glimpse into the history of the area is the plethora of old photographs of Sneinton Market, from traders selling their wares on market days, with familiar buildings in the background, to a visit by Steptoe and Son’s Wilfred Brambell in the 1960s (surrounded by some very happy looking women I might add). “Sometimes people come in and look at the pictures and they say ‘Christ, I think that’s my granny or grandad’,” Piers tells me.
Another nod to local roots is the aforementioned flower merchants, painted above the bar, which Piers reveals are his grandfather Alfred Wheatcroft and Alfred’s brother Harry, both prestigious rose growers. “Harry was very famous in Nottingham, because he was a brilliant salesman,” Piers explains. “He was always at the Chelsea Flower Show, giving roses to the Queen. He was a celebrity in his day, really.” Even the roses depicted in the illustration have significance; the Anna Wheatcroft Rose, named after Piers’ mother, is a delicately orange-pink variety, while the Harry Wheatcroft Rose shares similar hues but with a rare striped pattern.
The sense of history and care that has been put into the building, both inside and out, shows a respect for the locality that is to be admired. While ordinarily this could lead to worried whispers about gentrification, the progress blossoming in Sneinton Market, particularly due to independent businesses like The Bath, is surely a positive. The area’s once rough reputation has died away; a more creative and cultural character is blooming.
“We have people who are so pleased that it's still a pub and has been done up. Even if it's not their style of pub, they really appreciate the fact that it's stayed open,” Piers explained. “I think there's something nice about not basing everything on money. These days, everyone is just trying to make money, which is paralyzingly dull,” Piers explains. “With a pub you are creating a community. If I drop off the planet tomorrow and I've improved this area, then that is far more important than what's in the bank.”
Nip into The Bath Inn for a tipple at 1 Handel St, Sneinton, Nottingham NG3 1JE.
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