Birkenhead has lost some great drinking venues in the last couple of years paticularly in the town centre and the situation gets worse. Its a shame to see many of these once great bulidings going to rack and ruin.
It is a shame that they have closed, but some of them exist where there is no business anymore, particularly around the docks. Huge estates have been demolised, so these places exist quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Hardly the sorts of places you could imagine young couples going. I remember speaking to staff in the old English gent on Cleveland St, they asked our opinions on what they could do attract the younger clientele. "pick it and move it to the centre of town" was our answer.
I watched a similar decline of the Legion in Croxteth. Used to be heaving on a Sunday, queues going down the road, but as their members got old and stopped going, they didn't do nothing to attract new customers.
The smoking ban has had a lot to do with closures, but ultimately these places haven't moved with the times. I remember when I first took a job in a nightclub and the answer to decor was "just paint the place all black it hides anything". Like club owners could get away with that now.
growing up in birkenhead there seemed to be a pub on every corner.there used to be a lot more housing in birkenhead with till they reshaped the place and moved people out and demolished a lot of the town.these days its cheaper to go to the supermarket or offy and sit in watching the tv with all the channels people have these days. even the pubs by us arent that busy,if ale was cheaper more people might go out.