Barrel & Vine Opens Its Doors in on Lord Street

The brand new Barrel & Vine has opened in Southport town centre.

The new venture has welcomed its first customers at 459 Lord Street, opposite Sainsbury’s supermarket and in the thriving Northern Quarter.

It is open from 11am until late and is a beautiful spot to unwind with a glass or two of wine, beer, coffee or cocktails, while enjoying beautiful views of Lord Street.

Barrel & Vine is fully accessible, dog friendly, and has a new tapas menu coming soon. Visitors will also be able to savour delicious cheese or charcuterie boards.

It has been created by long-term friends Tony Meadows, James Hogan and Mark Wilkin, three proud Sandgrounders who are determined to invest in and improve their home town.

It adds to a number of other local businesses which have opened on this stretch of Lord Street recently, including the nearby Wine & Words and George’s Place.

Tony Meadows said: “We are so excited to be open!

“We had a brilliant soft launch, which was packed with our family and friends. It was great to see everyone, and to hear what they think of our new venue.

“It has taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get this place ready and it feels good to be open!

“We’re looking forward to people coming in and giving us a try to see what we have to offer.

“We’re hoping this place will be a massive success; if it is, it’s a concept we would love to expand, opening others in places like Ormskirk or Chester.

“Barrel & Vine is a place that’s friendly; that’s welcoming; that’s cosy and relaxed.

“We have four of us working here at the moment which we aim to expand to five or six very soon.

“We’re all very friendly, we all love chatting with people. You’re guaranteed a warm welcome when you come in.

“We have worked hard with our suppliers, Ale & Beer, to offer a superb choice of wines from France, Spain, Argentina, Chile, the US, plus some superb craft beers, and an exciting range of cocktails.

“During the day you can also sit back with a tea or a coffee and sit either inside or inside looking out onto Lord Street.

“This building has a high ceiling so it’s really cool inside during the summer.

“We are developing our food offering which will be available in a couple of weeks, with some delicious tapas, plus cheese and charcuterie boards.

“We will be open from 11am each day, until midnight during the week and until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights.

“We have brilliant neighbours around us and it's been good to see some exciting new businesses opening on this part of Lord Street. We love George’s Place, and Wine & Words by Watson.

“The former Wetherspoon building has now been sub-divided ready for new businesses to move in. Lord Street is improving. There are lots of reasons for people to come and visit.

“It’s very promising to see all the investment happening nearby, such as the new Marine Lake Events Centre and the transformation of the Town Hall Gardens.

“It’s fantastic news to hear about Southport Pier being reopened soon!

“We are looking forward to the Christmas season in Southport.

“There will be lots of people in town for the Southport BID’s Christmas Spectacular on Saturday 15th November, which will be a great time for people to call into Barrel & Vine for a drink or something to eat while they’re in town.

“Christmas is a superb time for people to be in Southport - Lord Street looks stunning with all the lights.”

Alongside Tony, James and Mark, the venue has another helper to thank for its success - AI. 
Tony said: “We have really made the most of AI and applications like ChatGPT and Grok.

“We have fed in elements of what we wanted to see, the colours we wanted etc. AI came back with some really interesting designs on what Barrel & Vine could look like.

“We are really pleased by the end results.”

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