There is a lovely interview here with Jackie who recalls her time as an art student in the 1970s. She really brings to life the ‘buzz’ of life for her and her contemporaries in those days. There are personal memories of Liverpool artists, in particular her friend Adrian Henri, and the famous pub landlord John Deakin.
Some of the places are shown above. Some have ‘ changed for ever, not for better/ Some have gone and some remain’ as Lennon sang in In My Life. Lennon is the most famous person associated with the Art College and the pubs, particularly Ye Cracke.
The Art College and the Hahnemann Hospital are empty now ‘awaiting redevelopment’. The Casa is still a great place, friendly and providing a good venue for arts events, developed by Dockers who put in redundancy money. In a former life it was a basement, dark and warm, crowded and selling a bowl of curry for a pound, a favourite place to go when the pubs closed. So too the Somali on Parliament Street just behind Hope Street, which Jackie mentions, now long gone. The Everyman bistro grew over the years and developed a reputation for good food and drink, and was a very popular place to meet or spend an evening until its recent closure for rebuilding. It started in the early 60s with just a couple of domestic cookers, and we’ll return to this when we look more closely into the Everyman’s history. In the meantime, here’s a picture of the theatre as it wa sbefore its last development in the 70s. Those of us old enough can remember that getting into the bistro involved a queue outside before the doorman Les, dressed in a great coat and wearing medals, always cheerful and good-natured usehered us in. Any one else remember those days?
See Derelict Places for source of above image. Looks a great site.
Hope Street Chronicles 