Incredible historic pub ‘gives you hug when you walk in' and 'antique' landlady jokes she'll be hung on wall

Peter Kavanagh's is a Liverpool institution named after the eccentric landlord who ran the pub for 53 years. A hidden gem, brimming with charm, the pub in the Georgian Quarter, along with its cast-iron railings, is Grade II listed.

These days 85-year-old Rita runs things and she's kindly invited us in to tell us all about this historic pub. "You feel a sense of - I call it a hug - when you walk in the door,” Rita tells LiverpoolWorld. “It's got a lovely atmosphere, it's got a lovely vibe about it, and it's a people pub."

The Egerton Street venue was named CAMRA Pub of the Year 2019, and the consumer organisation identified it as having a nationally important historic pub interior.

Rita has no plans to retire anytime soon, saying: "I'm getting to be an antique, so I fit in quite well, actually. I'm old with all the old things that are hanging up. Maybe they'll hang me up when I pop my clogs, you never know!"

And Rita believes the historic knick knacks are perfect to get people talking. “When people come in, they cans say, ‘oh god, I remember one of them’. It creates a conversation. That’s how people get to know each other. That’s what pub’s are for - for people to come in and have a conversation with somebody instead of being stuck in their little four walls day after day”

The pub's namesake was a publican, politician, and floral artist who ran the inn from 1897 to 1950. Kavanagh was also an inventor; there are fixed pedestal tables with channels for spilt drinks, and these highly distinctive tables have grilles covering bowls for the overspill, to be emptied out at the end of the night.

One of the charms of this pub is all the knick-knacks around; the assorted artefacts have been collected over the years, including an alligator skin, a bike and a statue of a rather charming waiter.

There's been a pub on this site since 1854. First, The Liver, The Grapes and then Peter's. After Kavanagh's death in 1950, the pub's name changed back to The Grapes. Despite this, the pub remained locally known as 'Peter Kavanagh's', with its name officially changed back in 1977.

Watch the video to hear more from Peter Kavanagh’s landlady Rita and to see more of the charming pub.