Legendary night club Ferrari's was the 90s nightclub where footballers and gangsters danced the night away to Italian house music.
Ferrari's, located in the middle of Huyton's St John's estate, had an interesting location to say the least.
The club attracted some of the more colourful characters from across Knowsley, and also became a magnet for big name footballers in search of post-match entertainment.
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Scouse visionary Henry Williams spotted a gap in the market and transformed the old Huntley and Palmer biscuit factory on Wilson Road into a club that could compete with top venues like 051, Fallows and Mr Smiths in Warrington.
Liverpool lawyer Kevin Dooley, who went on to represent Curtis Warren, found the time to attend the opening ceremony in 1992 when a real Ferrari was parked up on the dancefloor. Civic leaders and models also attended.
Like many 90s clubs Ferrari's began to be gradually undermined by the criminals who frequented it. Various door teams did their best but were ultimately unable to contain the tide of drug and booze fuelled violence.
The club was destroyed by a fire in 1997 and the story was over.
Trouble on the door
Former Liverpool doorman Peter Stockley spoke to the ECHO in 2019 about the club. He said: "I was a good friend of John Brum and I knew Henry Williams a bit too.
"To me Ferrari's was always a local club, in that it mainly attracted people from the Huyton area. And that was a problem because unfortunately there was a lot of baddies around at the time, who used to cause big issues in the club.
"Some of the local hard lads used to enjoy fighting with the doormen at the club, which was obviously a problem. Ferraris' would phone me up on a Monday morning and tell me all about it.
"I tried to help by supplying decent doorman - lads I knew could handle themselves without causing too much trouble.
"I went to the club a few times - to me it was just a big rave to me. I remember Henry had this VIP suite where he used to take the big names. I am not sure what happened toward the end but I remember they had a big fire and that was it."
Unfortunately Ferrari's also attracted the wrong type of clientele and the club was known to run a strong, robust door team. This was the era before the Security Industry Authority formed, so there were less checks made on doormen and their backgrounds.
The fight back
Liverpool security contractor Lee Jones spoke to the ECHO in 2019 about his time working at Ferrari's.
He said: "I was in Sydney and the management at Ferrari's got in touch with me. They said they wanted me to take over the door. I came back and did my best to improve the situation. We took a very firm line with some of the local baddies, and managed to calm the door down. But by then it was too little too late."
Former Liverpool bouncer Joey Owens remembered his time on the door at Ferrari's in his vivid memoir Race Wars to Door Wars. An updated version of the 2007 title was published as 'Pain and Plenty of It' in 2017. The book tells the action packed story of Owens time as a bouncer in 80s and 90s Liverpool.
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Mr Owens talks about the popularity of Ferraris and how it attracted big names such as Jan Molby, Ian Rush, Duncan Ferguson and then Liverpool manager Roy Evans. There is no suggestion that any of the footballers who went to the club did anything wrong.
Viva Las Vegas
In his book Mr Owens tells a remarkable story of how Henry Williams decided to send all the Ferrari's doorman to Las Vegas to watch Lennox Lewis fight Tony Tucker for the heavyweight championship of the world.
Mr Owens described how the collection of burly doorman ended up in a Nevada nightclub called Sharks after the big fight. Owens claimed that Mr Williams had to leave the club for a few minutes, but was refused re-entry.
This led to a rather heated confrontation between the club's 'Shark Patrol' door team and the scousers from Ferraris. The ensuing debacle attracted the attention of local television stations.
He writes: "Shark bouncers now started using pepper spray on the lads as the brawl spilled out into the car park. A TV helicopter hovered overhead, and there were several TV crews on the ground also. Police reinforcements arrived on the scene, as the out of control fight continued."
According to Mr Owens several of the Ferrari doormen were arrested after the mass brawl.
Hurly burly
And Mr Owens also spoke of a 'major disturbance' at Ferrari's just before the Christmas of 1994, when two rival families clashed in the club. Mr Owens described a hellish scene as mob armed with bottles and bar stools attacked the door team.
He writes: " Just when they thought the nightmare was about to end, the mob regrouped and came back round to the front door. A massive scene of disorder was now visited upon the club, with the lads from Ferraris fighting for their lives."
"Full credit must finally go to all those brave doormen who held the line that night and prevented the club’s destruction. Ferrari's was a very violent club in a very violent area."
Ferrari's went into voluntary liquidation in 1996 with debts of £123,738. The club was destroyed by a fire in September 1997.
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