Category: Liverpool

Liverpool Venues 17 to 20

I return this week to the endless plethora of Irish bars in Liverpool where live music seems to be taking place on a seemingly constant basis. First up I shall cover the Liverpool Irish House, which is located on the busy vibrant Ranelagh Street, residing next door to Lanigans Bar.  

It has a large main room with the traditional wood surrounds, complete with the scarf and flag adornments dotted all around the walls and ceilings. There was wall to wall sport showing on the multiple big screens and they also have regular live music taking place there and, on my visit, I saw a chap called Seamus playing on a small stage in the corner.  

Over on Great Charlotte Street you wouldfind Liverpool Nelly Foleys which is an archetypal faux décor Irish bar which consists primarily of one sizeable room and has the seemingly obligatory cheap drink offers. It is an eminently forgettable establishment with the dark spectre of karaoke also on its roster. I have visited just the once and I saw a chap called Freddie playing there.   

Nelly Foleys. Image Credit nearer.com

Also, on that old main drag you have Liverpool Grand Central Smokie Mo’s, part of a brand chain that has had a suite of branches around Liverpool ever since they were founded back in 2007. They are named after the owner Maureen Blackwell, who was already an established leisure industry operator.

She also has been commendably responsible for setting up the Top of Town cards scheme which issued out over 35,000 cards to local pensioners to enable them to be eligible to purchase cheaper drinks. To link the establishments together, it is worth noting that Mo is the daughter of the aforementioned Nelly Foley.

They had previous sites in the Mount Pleasant and Mathew Street areas before the Lord Mayor opened a larger venue in 2019 within the Grand Central complex, the location of which had previously housed the Barcelona Bar and Quiggins.

The new establishment encountered financial challenges as the landlady was involved in a long running £1.2m rent dispute concerning water issues and dry rot which had been encountered in the old building. It escalated at one stage in 2022 to her being locked out of the entire site when she returned one morning from buying the staff breakfast at the local Greggs, resulting most importantly in the bacon butties going cold!

The Smokie Mo’s joints are known for their American-themed layout and décor, and they stage drag queen nights and regular live music nights. On the evening of my visit there was a male vocalist on stage called Paul Gillies who plays there regularly.    

Post pandemic there was a Grand Central Irish Village created within the auspices of the Grade II listed Grand Central Hall on Renshaw Street. This contains the two previously mentioned bars and also incorporates Roe’s Bar and The Liffey.

New Century Picture House. Image Credit reddit.com

It originally opened as a Methodist church in 1905 and still contains the 100-year-old pipe organ. It also housed the New Century Picture Hall cinema and from 1933 to 1939 it was the temporary home of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra whilst their bespoke venue was being repaired after a fire.

The rental dispute referenced above subsequently resulted in the bars moving out of the village alongside the Grand Bazaar food hall. Thus, the modern-day complex now contains an art nouveau Grand Central Hotel which has 46 rooms and an expanded Liverpool Dome. The Dome now has a 3576-capacity venue and stages Irish festivals, cabarets and champions league nights as well as numerous live gigs. Upcoming gigs on the roster include The Coral and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Liverpool Dome. Image Credit flickr.com

It originally opened in 2011. The refurbishments eleven years later included improvements to all aspects of the venue to cope with the increased capacity. My one attendance thus far was earlier this year as part of the Sound City festival, and I was impressed as it was a terrific old fashioned style venue.

The band playing was Corella who met whilst at university in Manchester and initially started to receive some attention when their single ‘Barcelona Girl’ gained some airplay on ITV’s Good Morning show. They have gradually moved up from the ‘trainee’ Joshua Brooks and Zombie Shack venues up to headlining New Century Hall later this year. They got an appreciative reaction from the audience and reminded me somewhat of the Beta Band.

Liverpool Venues 13 to 16

I am this week commencing with the continuation of my sally down the Beatles influenced Mathew Street. On one of its corners bordering Stanley Street, you would locate Liverpool McCooleys whichis a sports and music bar that first opened its doors in 2017. The venue has a sister site located across town in Concert Square. The Mathew Street branch are an Irish Bar built over two floors, and they recently expanded to include a rooftop bar which accommodates a capacity of around 150 punters.

When its first opened, its overall size of 6500 square feet gained it the instant accolade of being the largest Irish Bar in the city and it has the traditional wood decor. They have regular music performers and on the day of my visit a local artist called Martha was strumming away in the corner.   

Liverpool McCooleys. Image Credit Liverpool Echo.

A couple of doors away is the Liverpool Legends Sports Bar, which does exactly what it says on the tin with live sports blasting out all day. They have stretched the concept of the happy hour to the limit by expanding it to 11am to 9pm from Sunday to Thursday. There are musical interludes every evening followed by regular DJ sets; on the one time I have visited I saw a double act called Dewey and Bill playing.

Liverpool Coopers Town House which isburied away on Cases Street near Clayton Square has a long and illustrious history. The pub has been around since 1890, but the story really starts on 16th January 1925 when a lady called Ada Cooper took over the license for the hostelry which at that stage was called The Sefton. She was an immensely popular landlady, so much so the pub became affectionally and informally known locally as The Coopers.

In the 1980’s, The Sefton was under the auspices of the Tetley Walker brewery, but the tide was changing in this decade into the free houses ethos, and this new approach resulted in the pub being renamed the Coopers in 1985. However, their early days were a challenge as in 1986 the majority of the street was demolished to create room for the Clayton Square development which resulted in its isolation from the city centre for three years.

Liverpool Coopers Town House. Image Credit Liverpool Echo.

To mitigate this commercial hit, the brewery asked John Hodges, who ran the nearby Empire pub, to take an additional rent free tenancy to preserve the licence. He developed the Coopers into a music-themed community establishment and when the area opened back up in 1989, he sold his current tenancy and moved in. Over the corresponding 35 years he maintained the popularity of the pub, and they have regular karaoke and live music nights.

The legacy of Ada was not forgotten as on the 100-year anniversary of her arrival celebratory events were held and a commemorative plaque was unveiled there. Through social media the small pub has attracted faithful clientele including Liverpool fans who live in Belgium and Copenhagen who have visited there year on year when attending Liverpool matches and it also has a commendable social media presence with 100,000 followers and over a million likes on Tik Tok. I saw a singer called Kerry on my one visit there.

Further down the same street is Liverpool Rocking Horse. The pub is located in the previous home of a TSB bank and prior to that Blacklers Department store. Blacklers was in situ there for almost the entirety of the 20th century before closing its doors for the final time in April 1988. Contained within their children’s clothing department since the 1950’s was a famous rocking horse called ‘Blackie’ (a name now from a bygone era).

‘Blackie’ the Rocking Horse. Image Credit Museum of Liverpool.

When the store closed Blackie moved on a free transfer to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital where it remained for 16 years as a well loved feature in the central admissions and cardiac clinic. In 2004 it was given a makeover after sustained usage on the wards, and it went into deserved retirement when it was donated on to the Museum of Liverpool.

So, naturally the name of the new hostelry that opened in 2021 was thus pre-ordained. It is an identikit sports and music bar with performers on 7 days a week. When I graced its doors, I was treated to a few tunes by a singer called Vera.