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!
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