The Cumberland Inn was designed by Harry Redfern, the key architect of the State Management Scheme (SMS) which took over all Carlisle's pubs in 1916 and managed them until the passing of the Licensing (Abolition of State Management) Act 1971. Redfern was closely linked with the Arts snd Crafts movement and - in collaboration with artists of the same school such as, notably, CFA Voysey (who contributed elements of some of the interiors) - designed a number of pubs in the area for SMS in an attempt to attract men from drinking dens in the city's slums to places where they could eat healthily and engage in `approved' pastimes such as Crown Green Bolwing. The Cumberland Inn was a `New Model Inn': the ideological imperative behind these has political resonances encompassing such apparently diverse philosophies as Liberalism and National Socialism: both have, at their core, an idealised (and arguably totally idealistic) perception of the real nature of what might be loosely called the `Working Class'.