I am returning this week to the ‘Beatles influenced’ musical haven of Mathew Street in the centre of the city. One of the establishments even goes so far as to name itself after one of their albums, namely Liverpool Rubber Soul. There are a suite of bars that line the street, and they are badged within the ‘Rubber Soul Complex’ and located within the Cavern Walks area.
Rubber Soul Bar. Image Credit go-eat-do.com
I surmise that the bar has been open for many years but can find no detail of this apart from the fact that it unexpectedly closed in 2009 before being extensively refurbished and reopened in 2013. One of the two bar rooms incorporates an exhibition pertaining to its history as a former fruit market and the legendary Liverpool Eric’s nightclub that is situated in the downstairs space.
Additionally, TP Molloys the site of the previous Tutti Frutti nightclub which was originally behind the venue was changed into a carvery and grill restaurant. That building which dates back to the 1930s had lain empty for many years but this was also restored and is now called Yesterday. Rubber Soul is a fairly basic sports bar showing big screen sports and has DJ’s playing every Friday and Saturday. On one particular night I saw a singer called Callum play there.
The afore mentioned Eric’s opened on 1 October 1976 in the basement of the Fruit Exchange building in Victoria Street. Shortly after they moved to their new location of Mathew Street opposite the Cavern Club. The local promoter Roger Eagle was the driving force and used his experience from previously hosting nights at the Stadium in Liverpool and the Twisted Wheel in Manchester.
He was joined in the enterprise by Ken Testi, who managed Deaf School and Pete Fulwell who was the owner of the ‘Inevitable’ record label and latterly manager of local bands It’s Immaterial and The Christians. The choice of Eric’s name was a tad tongue in cheek and its particular plainness was in response to the trend at that stage of naming disco clubs with funky names such as ‘Tiffany’s’!
The original Eric’s in the 1970’s complete with intriguing graffiti! Image Credit pinterest.co.uk
A lot of life’s successes and failures can come down to timing of ‘sliding doors’ moments and they were very fortunate in this regard as the opening of the club coincided with the explosion of punk. Thus, in the opening month the Stranglers played and there were huge queues for The Runaways. The Sex Pistols also performed which transpired to be their one and only Liverpool gig. Other acts to play there include The Clash supported by The Specials (a fine double bill!), The Ramones, The Slits and X-Ray Spex.
They also had the novelty of staging two shows on Saturday’s, one a matinee set in the afternoon for the under 18’s and then a more regular gig in the evening. There was apparently one famous afternoon show when Iggy Pop played a storming set to a posse of school children who took him by surprise by singing a full rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ back to him. He finished the performance with ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ though due to his star quality the price of the show had doubled from the usual price of £1 to £2!
The mention of matinees makes me reminiscent of those days where bands would not arrive on stage before 11pm. It has now gone so far the other way that due to club nights following the gigs in some venues, the event can be finished by the very early time of 9.30pm. There were also in those days’ gigs taking place all year round and I recall Blondie once playing Glasgow Apollo on New Years Eve in 1979 which was recorded for Radio 1 and Old Grey Whistle Test.
Talking of timings and also the recent onset of spring makes me recall when my brother and I were young lads down in London on a weekend when the clocks changed and were heading back to Preston on an early train on the Sunday morning. When we got on the train back into the city, we both commented that it seemed remarkably quiet, little wonder as we had tangled up on our spring forward/fall back understanding. Thus, our thinking was that we were on an 8am train, but the real time was actually 6am, what a couple of plonkers!
Iggy Pop on stage at the infamous Eric’s gig. Image Credit liverpoolerics.blogspot.com
The club survived until March 1980 when it was raided by police for drugs offences, and the last band to play there was Psychedelic Furs, I never visited in that era as I was far too young. The club was then briefly Brady’s before closing again shortly after. There was a significant time gap after that before the original venue reopened in 2011, with OMD playing on the opening night. I once recently visited the pub at ground level and saw a chap called Teddy playing.
In 2009 Eric’s history was covering extensively in the tome titled ‘Liverpool Eric’s: All the Best Clubs are Downstairs, Everyone Knows That’. An ethos I can readily attest to as I have found that many of the most atmospheric venues are in cellar spaces, The Ruby Lounge, Roadhouse and Peer Hat in Manchester, EBGB’s in Liverpool and the 13th Note Bar in Glasgow to name but a few!
