F is for Fisherman's Rest

What we now know to be The Fishermens Rest (formerly the Birkdale Palace Coach House) is the only part of the Hotel to remain. The Birkdale Palace was an extravagant Hotel that in 1939 boasted of billiards, croquet on the lawns, dancing, evening concerts, Sunday afternoon orchestral teas and tennis, to name but a few activities available. The Birkdale Palace had 1,000 rooms and around 200 bedrooms and suites. By the late 1930’s, the hotel had become a successful holiday resort hotel and conference centre, with stars like Frank Sinatra and Clark Gable staying there.

The “Fish’ has it’s own story, and the brass mermaids that secure the bar’s handrails commemorate the lives of the 14 Lifeboat men who lost their lives in 1886.

The bodies of the unfortunate lifeboat men (who were fishermen by trade) were removed from the beaches and laid out in the coaching house of the nearby Birkdale Palace Hotel and is reputed to be haunted by the spirits of the dead men.

The disaster is the worst in the history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, with 27-lifeboat crew lost. A public fund for relief of the sixteen widows and fifty orphans was opened with the RNLI contributing £2,000, the queen and the emperor of Germany also contributing to the fund. £30,000 was raised in total.

The Fish was also a temporary morgue for 14 sailors after the Eliza Fernley Lifeboat disaster of 1886. The brass mermaids that secure the bar’s handrail, commemorate them to this day.

My own associations with the pub go back to when we first moved to Southport. The Fish was the one of the few pubs that allowed dogs(it doesn't any more) and we often went there with our dog Ellie for beer and a decent plate of food. 

An added benefit was that our neighbour's boyfriend was the landlord at the time.

Unfortunately, as he told us, someone complained to the brewery about dogs being present in the lounge. There wasn't a separate public bar so he had to ban dogs.

Since then we've only made the occasional visit so I can't really comment on the quality of the beer or food; but the number of cars in the car park give an indication of how popular it still is. 

Whilst working at Rufford Old Hall(National Trust) I often meet visitors who are staying at the caravan site close to the pub.

The pub isn't visible from the site so I often give directions for the 5 minute walk to the pub.

I should be on commission, or at least be offered a discount on my beer!

Virtual Pub Crawl C, D & E

C is for Cheshire Lines

The Cheshire Lines Pub in Southport is an interesting place. It's tucked away behind the Prince of Wales Hotel on King St. 

When we first moved to Southport we discovered a bar called The Falstaff, also on King St, that is now closed down. The beer was OK but the food was good and excellent value for money. The pub used to be full of pensioners and we joined them on many occasions when we couldn't be bothered to cook anything.

The Cheshire Lines must have realised that good cheap food would fill their pub and take custom away from their competitor The Falstaff. Therefore, a couple of years later the Cheshire Lines was full of the same pensioners and The Falstaff closed.

Following the appeal of good cheap food we ventured in.

Apart from the strange welcome we liked it. It was a bit of a "tardis" with a huge room at the back with walls full of interesting railway themed photos. The food was good, if you like Sunday roasts etc and the beer was good with a fair choice including a mild.

The welcome was strange as it reminded me of The Slaughtered Lamb in the film American Werewolf in London. As soon as you enter everyone seems to go quiet and stare at you.

Things have changed slightly over the years. The photos seem to have mainly disappeared but the strange welcome and the decent beer remain.

It's a pub always worth including in a pub crawl if only for its hidden location.

D is for Dukes Folly

The Dukes Folly is included as I can't think of another pub or bar beginning with the letter D.

I've yet to go in it, so there's not much I can tell you about it other than that it has a large beer garden at the front.

This is the second pub/hotel to carry this name.

The original hotel was on the other side of Lord St and it was the first hotel in the town. If you want to know about the history of the town Google The Dukes Folly and you will learn all about the "Duke" that created Southport.

E is for El Rincon

Once again I struggled to find somewhere beginning with the letter E, so I include this as the only bar I could find.

I have been in this one, but only once to see what it was like a few years ago when it first opened.

The bar's claim to fame is that it is located in a former public toilets.

It's very small and it serves expensive drinks and expensive Tapas.

At the moment it is closed(not due to the virus) for refurbishment.

I've always referred to this bar as the Bogs Bar.

Rant update

In my last post I have a minor rant about not being allowed to drive to exercise.

I put a post on a local Facebook page to seek clarification on where we stand, locally, on this.

To date it got 200 replies!

The outcome is that, it would appear, I am allowed to drive short distances to exercise.

Therefore we have done so for the last 2 days.

Life is now much better and we feel safer not having to negotiate our way around: people chatting on phones as they walk, mothers with prams and small children and dog walkers with several dogs attached to washing lines.

Letters F and G next - to include my favourite pub in Southport.

PS  I'm struggling with entries for letters K, Q, X and Y. 

Virtual Pub Crawl

Blue Anchor

I don't know about everyone else but being in lockdown is finally getting to me.

Surprisingly(going from the title of this post) I'm not really missing the pubs that much. Neither am I missing the shops and restaurant etc.

What I'm missing the most is the freedom to go where I want, locally, by car(within reason).

I may have a rant about this later.

Fortunately Claire has a couple of decent push-bikes in the garage and one of them is electric!

I have therefore decided to begin a virtual pub crawl around the bars and pubs in the Southport area.

They must be within pedalling distance as I may use my old Brompton when I'm feeling the need for extra exercise. They should also ideally be pubs that I would frequent when open. However, I have decided to do this crawl in alphabetical order; so the odd crap pub will inevitable be included to fill un the gaps(I can't find a Q, X or Y pub yet).

I will appreciate any comments and corrections offered to my opinions posted.

A is for the Blue Anchor

Not a good pub to start with as I don't think I've ever been in it. I don't think it's in the beer guide so I don't know anything about it and I can't really offer an opinion. It was chosen simply because we past it on our way out to see the B pub.

Beer Den

B is for the Beer Den

This is a pub I have been in and I like it...a lot.

It's a new micro-pub that occupies what used to be a computer shop.

It's only small but it sells excellent beer from Parker's Brewery. The beer is well kept and very cheap compared to other pubs in town.

My mate David is a regular, so it must be good!

I have no humorous tales to tell of riotous times spent here, but it is definitely on my list of the first 6 pubs I'll visit when the"All Clear" is rung in Southport.

There are lots of other pubs/bars beginning with the letter "B" including(one of my favourites) the Bottle Room on Lord St; but for it's cheap beer and for looking after David during a difficult year The Beer Den gets selected for "B".

I'll be off pedalling to my C and D pubs soon.

Minor Rant

When will I be "allowed" to drive 10 minutes down the road to walk my dogs?

For 3 weeks we have diligently obeyed the rules and taken our dogs for a walk without using our van. This means that we have to walk for 10 minutes along narrow pavements, having to cross over several times to avoid people who refuse to cross over for us, so that we can finally let the dogs off the leads only to have to put the leads on again because they are small children kicking footballs about in the centre of the field!

My friends on Facebook, on the other hand, are able to drive to local country paths to enjoy a daily walk in peace and tranquil locations without having to the run the gauntlet on local pavements.

When will Boris and his mates get a nationwide ruling broadcast on whose rules we are following?  

If we can drive for 10 minutes from our cottage we can enjoy a walk without  having to avoid people on bikes or people glued to their phones. The dogs will be able to have a good run without tugging constantly on their leads and we will be able to look out for swallows and swifts(expected at any time) rather than looking out for people's manic dogs that are "only saying hello" and pram drivers who roam the streets like Ben Hur out for a drive with his mates!

Minor rant concluded....for now. 

Sands of Time

Me at The Isle of Man

Whenever we go for a walk on the beach with the dogs, I'm often reminded of my childhood.

The earliest holidays I can remember were spent at a caravan site just outside Blackpool. My mum's parents and brother often joined us; as did friends of mine and my sisters. In the case of Blackpool this usually meant two caravans; with no hot water or toilets and gas lamps. We had to catch a bus into the centre of Blackpool; which we did every day. Most days were spent on the sands with me digging in the sand or pestering the adults for a go on the donkeys.

Sheila(Wendy's friend) me and our kid. (Mum said I'd grow into my cardigan that she'd knitted.)

These were always holidays on the cheap and a ride on a donkey was a "once a week" affair...if we were good.

Blackpool was blessed with at least two Punch and Judy shows and I was always desperate to be allowed to see one. I did manage to see quite a few but I never managed to see the end of a show. My grandad would keep one eye on me and Wendy(my sister) and the other eye on the man collecting money in his hat. As soon as the hat appeared we were dragged back to base to avoid having to pay. Base was always the same. A group of hired deck chairs facing the sea with the remnants of sandcastles scattered around. Gran and grandad wrapped up against the weather watching us; mum fussing over cups of tea from a large flask and dad helping with the sandcastles and rubbing us down with damp sand encrusted towels. Sandwiches were always either potted meat or sandwich spread.

Base Camp on Blackpool beach.
Grandma, grandad and dad with Uncle David our kid and me on the airbed.

Dad must have gained a promotion at work, because we progressed from caravans in Blackpool to chalets on a holiday camp in Douglas, Isle of Man. The Island is my second favourite place I've ever visited; New Zealand being the first. This warrants a posting devoted entirely to my memories of this special island at a later date. The same crowd usually went and I remember my cousins and aunt and uncle joining us from Newcastle one year.

My earliest memories of these holidays were that the policemen wore white helmets, there were lots of motorbikes around and it rained most of the time...but I loved it!

Further promotions at work led to us holidaying "down south" when we stayed in B & Bs in Torquay on at least 2 occasions. Same gang(plus further aunts uncles and cousins), same base camp on the beach and same weather.

Later on we hit the heady heights of holidays at 3 Butlin's holiday camps; which I loved. On one occasion the gang expanded to include a couple of families living on our street and dad hired a coach to take us all there. Butlin's was a great experience with loads of things to do. I suppose that these were my first holidays where a bucket and spade weren't needed.

As we got older our family holidays got a bit posh as we travelled abroad to several of Spain's most popular resorts including Benidorm and Calella. By now beer was my main motivator and sand was something you lay on, plastered with lemon and oil until you turned painfully red.

I could go on, as holidays have always played an important part in my life; but I'll stop there.

As a footnote I'd like to finish with a story of something that happened to me at a very early age, that I have no memory of, that could have put me off sand for life; but gladly it didn't!

When I was born we lived at No 29 Grange Drive in Backley, Manchester. When I was 2 years old me moved to a larger house, not that far away, at No 35 Grange Drive.

As this move was to a house 3 doors away my mum and dad managed to rope in help from neighbours and family.

It took all day but eventually everything, including my dad's precious piano, were home and dry and, of course, mum put the kettle on for a brew.

Sandwiches were eaten and tea drank and, as it was getting dark, people were saying their goodbyes and mum and dad were thanking everyone for their efforts when mum realised something was missing. When I say something it was really a someone....ME!

"Where's our Michael?" House and garden searched and thoughts were turning to searching the fields at the back and the surrounding streets when my dad found me. I was still playing in the sand-pit at No 29 where they'd left me happily digging that morning! Imagine getting away with that today.

So sand has played quite a role in my life at times. People born in Southport are known as "Sandgrounders". I suppose I could class myself as a "Sand-digger".

It's a Dogs Life

We share our cottage with our 2 border collies; nine year old Mona and Ramsey who is almost 2 years old.

They are our current "family" following on from their predecessors: Chesil, Lowen, Ellie and Sulby.

Ellie

All have been rescue dogs apart from Ramsey who we purchased from a breeder in Yorkshire.

When Claire came to live with me in Warrington she arrived with Lowen and Chesil.

When the time came to look for a new dog we had to decide on a name.

Claire soon learnt of my obsession with the Isle of Man when we went there on my Kawasaki for our honeymoon in 2001. It was therefore agreed that our dogs would have Manx names.

Lowen with his big mate Harry

WE spent ages pouring over an OS map of the island looking at place names we could use.

Our first Manx dog was Ellen Vannin which is Manx for Isle of Man. This soon got abbreviated to Ellie.

Next was Sulby Glen; a famous stretch of the TT course.

Then Mona, after Glen Mona; on of the many glens that we have walked in on the island.

Chesil

Finally we have our recent addition Ramsey named after the town but also a famous section of the TT course. If he needs a surname we could always call him Ramsey Hairpin after the sharp turn on the TT course.

For a while we also looked after Claire's mum's dog Jack.

Fortunately this also has a Manx connection as there is a small bay called Port Jack on the island.

Future dogs names already listed are: Erin (Port Erin), Douglas (the capital), Isabella( the name for Laxey's famous water wheel and if we end up with a badly behaved dog "Little Sod" named after another bay called Soderick.

I'll see if Claire can add a future post of her own on the many stories she has to tell about her dogs.

They are a large part of our lives. They go everywhere with us and they give more than they take as far as affection and company are concerned.

As one of my heroes Groucho Marx puts it  “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” 

Jack

Our Retreat

For the last 2 weeks we've been on "lock down" and restricted to brief trips into the outside world. The fence around our cottage is the perimeter of our word at the moment.

Claire is busy turning a planned patio into a "Dig for Victory" vegetable plot and I'm looking after food supplies and the provision of meals.


We've been living here at 1 Meols Cop for something like 13 years now.

It's a small, whitewashed, shrimpers cottage that was once situated on the edge of the sand dunes close to the sea. There's a path at the side where the entrance to our cottage is, called Manx Jane's Lane. We presume that one of the cottages on the lane once belonged to Jane but we don't know which one.

As we haven't had sight of the deeds to the cottage we don't know anything about it's history. Old maps tell us that it is Georgian and we can presume that it was originally one room that later had 2 small extensions; leaving us with it's present footprint.

The cottage(and No2 Sea Cop next door) are now situated on Fylde Rd; but up until some time after WW2 the 2 cottages sat in isolation. Older neighbours can remember these times and we are told that there was a track where Fylde Rd now sits called Dock Rd.

When I can get around to it(ie in the next couple of week) I'm going to do whatever needs doing to get a copy of the deeds; which I will peruse and report back on.

In the 13 years we have lived here we have carried out a few improvements including: new garage roof, new kitchen, installed a wood burner, new windows and front door(we don't have a back door - yet) and converted part of the garage into a Garden Room where I am now sat.

It's hard to believe at the moment, but we have had many  fund raising garden parties and barbecues in the past and we are always amazed at how many friends we can cram into the small spaces we have.

I've included a few photos by way of an introduction to where we live.

I'll finish this post with an explanation for the photograph below:

Yes it is a bus stop, but what is it doing in our garden?

Simple answer .....I nicked it!

I was born and brought up in Blackley, Manchester: where I lived until I went to college in 1984.

When I was about 18 my mate John and I went to a  friends party. This was a memorable party for reasons that I'll not go into for fear of embarrassing the friend concerned.

However, on the way home, with several pints of Watney's Red Barrel inside us; it seemed like a good idea to nick the 147 bus stop from Blackley New Rd...so that's what we did. It was a 2 man job as the bus stop was securely fastened high up on a lamp-post.

On a similar night, fuelled by Wison's best bitter this time, we added to my collection by nicking a litter bin from a different bus stop.

Sadly the litter bin went missing during my years as a teacher. It's probably still in a store room in Warrington.

So there you have it. In 1975(approx) I stole 2 items belonging to Manchester City Transport.

The company no longer exists.

I'm not proud of my short life as a criminal....but it has helped to decorate our garden.

Welcome to life at Sea Cop

Hello to anybody reading this, my first post in my second attempt at creating a blog.

Several years ago I spent a huge chunk of my time as a local councillor for Sefton MBC and in that previous life I maintained a, slightly political blog...which is no more.

Along with the rest of the planet I am currently "confined to barracks"  in our small shrimper's cottage here in Southport, Merseyside.

I'm bored, frustrated, slightly worried if I'm honest and in need of a new focus in my life other than hunting for paracetamols, bog rolls and tinned tomatoes.

For those of you who do not know me I am:

Name: Mike Booth

Politics: I was a member of the Liberal Democrats for many years and I was a Lib Dem Councillor for 12 years. Currently I am not a member of a political party.

Status:  Married to my wife Claire

Children: None, but we share our cottage with 2 border collies; Mona and Ramsey(I think I'll be posting on them later).

Job(s): I'm a retired teacher but I work part-time for the National Trust when not avoiding The Plague.

Home: Our home is a small, one bedroomed, ex-shrimper's cottage near to the sea in Southport.

Interests: Football(Manchester United), motorcycling, music, trying to learn musical instruments and giving up, walking, holidays and morris dancing when I can.

I'm not sure where this blog will take me as I never plan anything.

Hopefully it will keep me occupied and introduce me to some old and new friends. I'll try to keep away from politics, but it's bound to creep in.

I have considered structuring the blog chronologically from my childhood in Manchester through to the present day, but that's too structured for me. Instead I'll probably just post about whatever is interesting or annoying me at the time; once I've finished introducing myself, my home and my family to you.

That's all for now.

I can't remember what happens next as far as making all this searchable etc; so lets see what happens by tomorrow.