At the corner of Hanover Street and Wood Street in Liverpool there is a pub called The Empire. It has had that name since its reconstruction around 1914 prior to which it was the Dewdrop Inn.
A traditional Liverpool drinking den, it is "hard to imagine anybody spending an entire night in the Empire. Little more than a small room hugging the corner of Wood and Hanover Streets, it stands too close to the hip-happening places to warrant anything more than a quick visit while you wait for queues elsewhere to die down." So says one of the local reviewers of pubs and clubs.
I suspect it got its patriotic name from the air of jingoism that prevailed at the outset of the First World War. The picture on the sign does not appear to bear any direct relationship to the name.
A police report from 1892 stated "This house has been most unsatisfactorily conducted during the past year. The police, when visiting, continually find large numbers of prostitutes on the premises. " The magistrates ignored the police objection to the renewal of the premises' licence and 125 years later The Empire is still going strong.
There's something to be said for the small places, though.
ReplyDeleteIt looks reasonably respectable now, doesn't it!
ReplyDeleteHopefully,the large numbers of prostitutes there has dwindled since that police report!
ReplyDeleteCould "The Empire" be the name of the boat/ship on the sign?
Thanks for the suggestion but if it was named after a boat it can't have been like the one on the sign - that's too recent. There were lots of ships named and renamed with the Empire prefix during WWII but I can't find one from around 1914.
DeleteThanks for the suggestion but if it was named after a boat it can't have been like the one on the sign - that's too recent. There were lots of ships named and renamed with the Empire prefix during WWII but I can't find one from around 1914.
DeleteI have to admit that I can't recall the place at all.
ReplyDelete