Generations of Liverpool revellers flocked to Liverpool’s Cabin Club, despite the drab interior and the musty aroma, and now the building will hopefully get a new lease of life. Tony McDonough reports
You had to knock on the door to get in and it had an old-fashioned cloakroom. So when Liverpool’s Cabin Club closed its doors for the final time in 2015 it felt like the end of an era.
Popular with police officers and nurses the club, housed in the Havelock Building at the top of Bold Street, also had famous associations with Beatle George Harrison and legendary cockney entertainer Tommy Steele.
Harrison wrote Don’t Bother Me after being harassed by reporters and photographers on his way in to the Cabin in 1963 and Steele held his engagement party there… crash, bang wallop, what a picture.
Dutch courage
The Cabin’s heyday was way back in the 60s and 70s and once reportedly had a rocking horse in the middle of the dancefloor that proved a tempting, and often painful, challenge for many punters filled with the Dutch courage of a belly full of ale.
Those in attendance in later years will testify to the fact that the decor had not been updated since those days and a musty aroma hung over the place. However, it didn’t stop people flocking to hit the dancefloor to the backdrop of a cheesy playlist.
One online reviewer in 2010, wrote: “Walking into the Cabin is like walking into one of those halls of mirrors at a funfair – you get an odd, surreal feeling in the pit of your stomach (if you’re not already too drunk) and find it hard to latch on to reality.”
Click to watch a promotional video for the Havelock Building
Sadly, or not, depending on your point of view, those days aren’t coming back but there is hope the building can be given a new lease of life with a search under way for new bar/restaurant operators.
Scottish chain Bar Soba had unveiled plans to open a three-floor bar and street food restaurant on the site and planning permission was granted in August 2017. However, earlier this year the company said it had decided not to go ahead – and didn’t offer a reason.
Fit-out
And now, once again, the Havelock Building is available for rent having undergone an extensive refurbishment. It has been stripped internally ready for a new operator’s fit-out, with a complete external refurbishment, including opening up the ground floor façade and installing new floor to ceiling windows.
The basement is being marketed to independent club and bar operators, with the ground and first floors available as a single package for a restaurant/bar operator. There is an option to combine all the floor space, subject to end-user requirements.
“Bold Street has been transformed in recent years as Liverpool’s independent dining hub,” says Nick Huddleston of property agency CBRE, which is handling lettings for the refurbished building.
“We’ve saved the best site ‘til last, however. Havelock Building enjoys a visibility and frontage like no other and such wide, open spaces simply aren’t available in Liverpool and we’re expecting strong occupier interest.
“Our client has reinstated the original fenestration to provide great visibility both from within and without and a strong, confident brand will know exactly how to maximise this and the space within.”