O’Connors Tavern

Scaffold, Liverpool Scene and guests performed poetry and music in several venues around Hope Street including Streates and the Basement on Mount Pleasant, Hope Hall and the Everyman. Their last venue was O’Connors, on Hardman Street. Writer Phil Bowen describes it:

O’Connors Tavern, presided over by the ever-beaming Jimmy Moore, whose holidays revolved around Liverpool FC’s European games … (was)…Windowless and smoky with an eerie sepia light, more like a bar in Harlem.

 

The great Andy Roberts Music site (he was with Liverpool Scene) is a wonderful source, especially commemorating the times and life of Adrian Henri who was at the centre of much that was happening. Have a look at the Inspidered post which contains some video of Scaffold and the Scene in action.

Liverpool Scene made many albums which Roberts documented. The thumbnail here from the Amazing Adventures of Liverpool Scene shows some of the regulars of O’Connors with Jimmy Moore in the middle.

By the way, Phil Bowen’s book, A Gallery to Play To which is a thorough and sensitive history of the Liverpool poetry scene, reveals how, a year before she met John Lennon, Yoko Ono took part in an installation exhibition at the Bluecoat. There Adrian Henri met her, and after the show took her to O’Connors.

“She was very sweet,” recalled Henri.

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Signs of Hope

Even a simple sign or picture can suggest some of the many meanings of Hope Street…

A present day street sign

While the area has been so developed over the past 20 years – with new road surfaces, pavements, statues, installations, restaurants, hotels – the street sign itself seems to speak of an older, more neglected history.

Adrian Henri's 'collected' street sign on show at the Museum of Liverpool

Placed in a museum as a sign of historical importance, this sign suggests an attachment to a place, like Penny Lane. It’s scrawled on, has scratched onto it layers of expression, each layer like a witness to a different history.

Someone has turned this into “No Hope”place. Others have added their own messages. The sticker in the top left is to do with treasure hunting – using mobile phones to find clues. We are going to organise our own treasure hunt at Hope Street Chronicles : people will be able to add stories, facts, responses, comments to each object they find.

Hope Street, yes. But this one’s in Glasgow. Same words, different reference. We are producing a short video called From Hope to Hope about a man who travels from Hope Street in Glasgow to Hope Street in Liverpool looking for a new start.

Hope Street and the City of Radicals

One sign of today proclaiming 2011 as the year of the City of Radicals has fallen forlorn. The street sign is content to be partly hidden but sure of its more permanent nature.

Greetings from Hope Street

The verdigris is a sign of time wearing things away. The ‘postcard’ is not one you’d be likely to send but maybe it makes us think about how we distinguish between trying to show something in a pleasant light, and showing it in a different way, her, for instance, a little bit sad.

Cover from one of Bishop Sheppard's autobiographies

The identification of Hope with Hope Street has a long history. Bishop Sheppard and the Catholic Archbishop Derek Worlock organised many walks between the two cathedrals. A statue now commemorates their work together about half way down Hope Street. (We’ll be looking at this subject and the work of the two men soon).  Both men were key figures in founding what is now Hope University. The two of them wrote a book called With Hope in Our Hearts. So Hope and Hope Street, the only road with a cathedral at both ends, is well established. The fact is, of course, that the street is named after a Liverpool merchant, William Hope, whose house stood where the Philharmonic pub is now.