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Situated in the heart of Dundee's West End, The Speedwell Bar has been known by generations of locals as "Mennies" - after the Landlady who owned and ran the property for over half a century. Built by James Speed in 1903, the pub was taken over by Henry Mennie in the 1920's and remained within the same family ownership until 1995 when the pub was taken over by Jonathan Stewart. | ||
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The Speedwell is in fact one of the very few pubs in Scotland, and the only one in Dundee so far, which has been listed for the quality of its interior, and | |
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one of the few surviving pubs mentioned
in the definitive 1983 book "People's Palaces, Victorian
and Edwardian Pubs of Scotland". The Speedwell is
one of the finest examples of an Edwardian Bar embracing all that was good in
pub architecture at the beginning of the twentieth century.
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The main public bar is entered through a mahogany and etched glass inner screen, with additional separate doors to the front of the L-plan bar. To the side of the main bar are two | ||
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small lounges, front and back, with a glazed screen
between, now sensibly designated smoking and non-smoking.
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All the fitments are beautifully crafted of mahogany: bar, gantry, drinks shelves, dado panelling and fireplaces. The bar is divided by | |
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glazed screens with
urn finials, to allow customers chatting at the bar a little privacy from their
neighbours. The internal doors and screens are all glazed with etched glass to
the same design as the front windows. Even the toilets retain original Shanks
fitments, crazed white tiled walls and mosaic floors.
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