Historic Lancaster pub celebrates 40 years as much-loved member of city's hostelry scene

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A Lancaster pub which has earned itself an enviable reputation for its fine dining is this week celebrating a special anniversary.

For the last 40 years, Merchants 1688 Restaurant and Bar has stood tall as a much-loved member of the Lancaster hospitality scene – but its links to keeping the city’s great and good well lubricated go back many more years.

Richard Hind and Co Wine and Spirits Merchants are recorded as having held the premises from 1851 through to the 1930s, bringing wine in wholesale from the city’s busy docks.

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Kept safe behind iron gates on the cellar entrance, with evidence of hinges still visible today, it was distributed out to the victuallers of the burgeoning Victorian city.

Merchants 1688 at Castle Hill, Lancaster.Merchants 1688 at Castle Hill, Lancaster.
Merchants 1688 at Castle Hill, Lancaster.

The building above was a rubber factory for the intervening period until David Newton bought it in the 1980s, discovered the three then-bricked-up alcoves, knocked them through and decided to convert it into a pub.

The Merchants proved a popular haunt and by the early 2000s was known for offering value along with sports TVs in each cellar.

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Then in 2007, local licensee Tim Tomlinson took on the lease with the aim of evolving it into something more in keeping with the venerable stonework.

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Originally offering really good traditional pub food and a great range of local real ales, the menu has recently developed into more of a fine dining experience.

Last year the restaurant was proud to receive national culinary recognition, firstly with a rave review from TV personality and food critic Jay Rayner describing it as having ‘seriously impressive food’. Then earlier this year, the pub was awarded its first AA Rosette – though Merchants 1688 continues to offer a choice of lunch time light bites and sandwiches too, along with Atkinsons of Lancaster roasted coffee and a carefully curated selection of ales and wines to keep customers fed and watered.

All this is at the hands of superb young Head Chef, Will Graham, described by Rayner as ‘a major talent’, alongside General Manager Leanne Moore and her team overseeing the front of house to ensure service and experience matches the food.

The pub is set at the very heart of Lancaster’s most historic area, Castle Hill. So much so that as you enter through the peaceful beer garden, with the barbican’s gates visible up to your left, your progress inside feels almost like you are going beneath the very walls of the fortress itself.

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