Hole in Ye Wall, Liverpool

Tucked away off Dale Street, this pub retains much from an inter-war refit and has a rare first floor cellar. One reason suggested for the unusual cellar is that the pub was built on consecrated land - a cemetery for a Quaker Meeting House. Until recently, some real ale was served from a keg looking dispenser by gravity feed down the columns on top of the bar counter but the pipework has not been replaced recently so all real ales now served on handpumps. Look for the framed note titled 'Gravity Fed Traditional Ales'.

Leaded screens form seating areas and while the lower parts of these and the wall panelling are from the 1930s, the upper parts were restored/replaced in c.1984. The lower parts of the bar-back fitting look to be original 1930s work but the top section is modern. Note the marble counter top in one area from the days of serving food from it. The counter front of copper panels could be from the 1960s and the ornate copper fireplace hood could date from that time. Note the telephone booth with a door covered with studded leather – from the days before mobile phones!

Look for the three window bell-box still situated behind the bar - the bell pushes are still in working order but rarely switched on due to both accidental and purposeful over use of them! It claims to be the last 'Men Only' public bar in Liverpool only allowing women in when forced to by law on 1 January 1976 when the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) became law! This is the reason why the present ladies' toilet can only be accessed by walking across the servery and going upstairs to the former staff toilet on the first floor! The gents' are little altered with an interwar terrazzo floor and dado.