SBI has been renovating the building located to the immediate right of the Mariemont Theatre, the location of the erstwhile Village Kitchen.

It is SBI’s vision to house an elegant and credible English eatery and pub in the refurbished building.

Gutting the interior, adding a couple additions, hiring carpenters to build the ambience and throwing a couple coats of paint on the walls will have culminated in created fine building ... but it is the smaller details that have put the final and finest touches to the establishment.

For starters, there is a passage-way between the building and the Theatre that handcuffs the village square to the front and a parking lot in the rear. The bricks that line the passage are the original rouge blocks that were laid when the buildings were constructed near the village’s creation. Thus, walking back and forth through the passage is a literal walk on and around a fingerprint of Mariemont’s history.

While walking through the passage, if one is to look up, they would see rustic-looking handmade wooden support beams every several feet. The beams give the passage an old-fashioned aesthetic.

“Dan Spinnenweber and I have been collecting and salvaging old pieces of architecture for more than 40 years,” SBI General Manager Bonnie Malone said. “When we see something that looks like it would fit in the era of old English Mariemont, we grab it.”

Located in the front facade of the building is a glass canopy arched over the ingress/egress of the passage. Vivid colors are refracted by the sun’s light when it hits the leaded glass. The leaded glass has been collected over time from various other structures.

Also on the facade are numerous flower boxes decorated with handmade flowers designed and cut by the Spinnenwebers and Malones.

The lower half of the building has been glossed with terra cotta insets that were salvaged from an old building in Chicago prior to its being torn down.

Just this past year, Spinnenweber purchased a pair of old, heavy oak doors with iron hinges that stretch across the wooden surfaces.

“All these items we have been hoarding, some for more than four decades,” Malone said, adding now the working doors will be employed at both ends of the passage to form a front door and gate.

At night, the door and gate will be closed and locked after closing time.

Malone explained that in England, when patrons enter a pub there is usually a bar downstairs and a restaurant upstairs.

Once open for business, patrons to the establishment will be able to climb a set of wide stairs leading to a spacious dining area. The patrons will dine while overlooking the village square through large divided light windows.

People should be mindful to look around and absorb the craftsmanship, for it all will be part of the experience.