A free bacon butty with a pint, topless go go dancers, midday drunks and a "deafening silence" when an out-of-towner walked in are some of the enduring memories of a lost city centre pub.
It's been six years since Liverpool lost one of its most remembered, if notorious, pubs. The Penny Farthing pub, later renamed the New Penny Farthing, was placed in one of the most prominent positions in the city on the corner of St Johns Precinct, next to the Royal Court Theatre.
Opened in the early 1970s, It's fair to say it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing pub, looking more like stacked shipping crates rather than a fancy drinking hole for the theatre-going crowd. After nearly 45-years serving drinkers, time was finally called last orders in 2016.
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The Royal Court Theatre took over the pub in 2015 before the new owners completely renovated the building top-to-bottom. With the new addition of an outdoor drinking area, The Courtyard Bar and Kitchen opened in place of the Penny Farthing in 2017, turning the old building into an attractive bar and restaurant that now receives glowing reviews from customers.
Before it closed for good, the New Penny Farthing pub had become known as a place to get the cheapest pint in town and even a free bacon butty with your drink. When the ECHO announced the pub's demise back in 2016, readers shared their memories with many saying they were glad to see the back of the "eyesore" pub.
Jackie Dawson said: "Horrible dirty looking place, needs sorting out! It's an eyesore and gives a bad impression of our lovely city if you get off the train at Lime Street it's the first pub you see!"
Stephen Halligan posted: "Remember they wouldn't serve us because after last orders. Some customer opened his coat and offered us cans to top up our glasses - never charged us. Could only happen in the Penny Farthing".
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Elizabeth Bennett remembered: "My boyfriend took me there for a drink and my jaw fell to the floor when a topless go go dancer started dancing around the pub and my boyfriend asked the barman how come the price of a pint was so dear, ha ha."
While Oli Melville commented: "Only pub I've ever seen anyone throwing up at the bar at midday. Gotta respect that."
And it wasn't just ECHO readers who had some colourful memories of the Penny Farthing. Comments on the beerintheevening.com pub review site are even more eye-opening.
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In 2013, a user called happytyskie shared this memory: "Knowing the reputation of this place we decided to visit for a dare late on a Saturday night when everywhere else was closed. Straight away we were 'befriended' at the bar by one of the regulars who looked like a cross between a Neanderthal and your archetypal serial killer.
"As well as being drunk he proudly boasted he was high on cocaine. A quick glance round at the few remaining clientele suggested that the ones who weren't collapsed were probably in a similar state.
"Needless to say we drank our drinks very quickly, made our excuses and swiftly left. I'm thinking of having a t-shirt made saying 'I Survived The Penny Farthing!'"
Posting in 2010, Schwalbe said: "I went in there once at 10am (not for pleasure I hasten to add) expecting an empty pub: instead it was like a wild west saloon (complete with sudden deafening silence). Populated with the sort of people you would expect to find in a pub at that hour, and none looked as if they were recent arrivals. Awful place, the only saving grace is that it is keeping its customers out of other pubs."
While on another review site, Yelp.com, posting in 2015, Phil B seemed to agree the pub wasn't friendly to non-regulars. He said: "God this is a dive. If you are an out-of-towner like myself you don't get treated great. Funny looks [and] feeling nervous, but the ale was cheap and was ok but haven't been back since. But if you are local you will love it."
And despite its tatty and dated feel and reputation, it seems many of those who frequented the New Penny Farthing took a different view. Back on the Liverpool ECHO Facebook page in 2016, many readers shared fond memories of the old pub.
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Tommy Scotland posted: "We had some times in here! Erasure, one o'clock in the afternoon!!"
Maria Baum said: "It was full of people who liked the old pub style. I had many good laughs there years ago - everyone [was] friendly".
Anne-Marie Sherlock remembered: "Used to go here around 1981/82, before heading up to Cagney's night club in London road. [It] was great back then!"
While Peter Jason Keegan commented: "Been in there a few times and had a pint. Even though the pub looked grotty it was a decent little pub."
What are your memories of the New Penny Farthing pub? Let us know in the comments below.
