Why is The Vines on Lime Street known as 'The Big House'? One of city's oldest and most popular pubs never goes by its real name Taking up a huge chunk of the corner of Lime Street and Copperas Hill, ‘The Big House’ is one of the city’s most recognisable boozers. The Vines - to use its official name - is the sister pub of the Philharmonic and is on CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. The pub was built a whopping 150 years ago by Albert B Vines. In 1907, Walkers took over and rebuilt the pub into an ornate style. Nowadays, it is known for good beer, live music and karaoke. But why is it referred to as The Big House? Echo readers James Parr said: “I think it’s because it used to be a jail. I remember one of my dad’s mates telling me that.” It’s been a gin palace and an old billiards room - could it have once been a prison, too? We spoke to one of the managers at the Vines, Ron Taylor. He said: “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I think it’s just called the Big House because it’s... big.
