New The Merton Inn

[henry]

A NATIONAL pub chain is showing no sign of an economic hangover as it today reveals plans to invest £600,000 in revamping a disused Bootle landmark - creating 35 jobs for local people.

JD Wetherspoon will renovate The Merton Hotel, on the corner of Stanley Road and Merton Road, and rename it The Merton Inn.

The pub - just 300m from the chain’s other Bootle pub, The Wild Rose - will open on May 6 after a six-week programme of restoration.

Spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “Bootle has been a good town for us and The Wild Rose has been a particular success.

“We are always looking to expand in towns where we enjoy success and we are delighted to be opening The Merton Inn.

“We will be investing around 600k in the site and we will create around 30-35 jobs, in a mix of full and part time roles.

“Work will commence in mid-March to renovate the building and if all goes to plan we will be open for business on May 6.”

The pub has been granted permission to open from 9am to 3.30am at weekends - potentially giving drinkers the chance to prop up the bar for 18 and a half hours.

But the chain insists it will not be operating any later than 1am.

Mr Gershon added: “The hours we have applied for are not necessarily the hours we will open for.

“Generally, our pubs open at around 8am in the morning and close at about 12am.

“A vast amount of trade comes in at breakfast so we will certainly be looking for an early morning start.

“Wetherspoon’s has a good reputation for its pubs. We have operated one successfully in Bootle for around 10 years and we hope this pub will follow suit.”

Wetherspoon’s investment has been welcomed by Linacre Ward councillor Gordon Friel.

[Eddy Lloyd]

How could they get a license till 3:30am at weekends in a built up area? I know they said they would only open till 1am but for how long?

[daveowe]

Incidentally Councillor Gordon Friel lives in Maghull, not in the ward he represents. How's that for a NIMBY comment, hope an application for 'The Alt' in Maghull, close to his home, receives the same consideration.

daveowe

[nkotb]

Cllr Friel will not be the only Cllr to live outside the ward he represents, but just for the record,The Merton isn't in Linacre Ward either it is Derby Ward.

[BOBHAMO]

[img]A vast amount of trade comes in at breakfast so we will certainly be looking for an early morning start ,DOES THIS MEAN YOU CAN GET BEER FOR BREAKFAST , ??? ,BOBHAMO

[/img]

[daveowe]

I am well aware of the 'Merton' being in Derby Ward, the point made relates to the comments by Gordon Friel (Linacre Ward Councillor)
Where are the councillors representing Derby Ward on this....surely they should be spokespersons on this developement, not a councillor from a neighbouring ward. He is as I suggested therefore expressing an opinion as a resident of Maghull!

Bobhamo

Precisely, the signage inside and outside 'The Wild Rose' informs you can purchase a Drink whilst enjoying your breakfast! Hope the magistrates at South Sefton Magistrates court will appreciate this service available to their clients in the coming months.

daveowe

[PETER CRAIG]

.

[Eddy Lloyd]

Good point Dave

[rockanroll]

Despite all the social problems known to be associated with drinking there doesn't appear to be any attempt to market it sensibly. Gone are the days when you had to go to a seperate shop if you wanted to buy alcohol or even a seperate counter within a shop. You can now pick your cornflakes up in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. Alcohol is dispersed on practically every isle in every supermarket you go in - even the corner shops are packed to the rafters with it, it doesn't surprise me that you can now get a pint with your breakfast. I know the sellers will say if you don't want it don't buy it - but come on surely there is someone who will say enough is enough. It's no secret that alcohol is a very dangerous product and can have devastating consequences when abused, there should be a greater degree of controll over how it is marketed and sold.

[nkotb]

Daveowe I don't know the answers to the questions you pose. Possibly the good Cllr is in the Licensing Committee.

[Eddy Lloyd]

Or an alcoholic

[matt wethered]

But you don't want to be regulated as we are in B.C. Rockanroll.Here we were treated like little children until a few years ago.You would go into a pub and there would be a wall separating you from any ladies that God forbid would be in there,two separate entrances,one marked MEN and the other Ladies and escorts.If there were four people at the table you had to have a beer in front of each person.If you wanted anything other than beer you had to go to a cocktail lounge where you could'nt buy beer.it is only within the last couple of years that we have been able to buy liquor from a non Government owned Liquor Store but we still cannot buy any type of alchohol in a grocery store.Allthough Sheila and I only have an occasional drink we would love to have the freedoms that the people have in U.K
Matt

[steve55]

But you don't want to be regulated as we are in B.C. Rockanroll.Here we were treated like little children until a few years ago.You would go into a pub and there would be a wall separating you from any ladies that God forbid would be in there,two separate entrances,one marked MEN and the other Ladies and escorts.If there were four people at the table you had to have a beer in front of each person.If you wanted anything other than beer you had to go to a cocktail lounge where you could'nt buy beer.it is only within the last couple of years that we have been able to buy liquor from a non Government owned Liquor Store but we still cannot buy any type of alchohol in a grocery store.Allthough Sheila and I only have an occasional drink we would love to have the freedoms that the people have in U.K
Matt

Hi Matt,
those regulations sound more than a little restrictive Glad things seem to be more relaxed for you now, but if you still lived here,you would see the consequences of our "freedom" to drink anytime,anyplace.anywhere! You can now get on a bus full of drunks,in the morning,or see them lying on the grass in the park,before lunch, including young kids, who drink cheap cider, which is 8% proof! Bring back off-licences,I say, and stop selling booze in sweetshops!!!

[matt wethered]

point very well taken steve55,after re- reading both rockanroll and your postings I have to agree with both of you.
Matt

[Eddy Lloyd]

Drugs aren't sold over the counter anywhere, does it stop people taking them?? It just inflates the price. Heavier fines and penalties should be given to those who sell to kids. If an adult wants to drink himself to death that's his choice. More people die of heart attacks through eating unhealthy foods than drink related diseases. Get more police on the streets paid for by stopping extortionate expenses paid to fat cat MPs and beaurocrtas. Start at the top and work down I say.
Rant over

[daveowe]

Nice comment Eddy, just heard John Prescott moralising on the obscene amounts paid to bankers. They dont get it do they, the politicians are in the feeding troughs and riding the gravy train alongside the bankers, spivs, tax avoiders et al.

Dave

[Eddy Lloyd]

Indeed Dave

[BOBHAMO]

TOOK THIS TODAY AT LEAST THE SCAFFOLDING FIRM IS FROM BOOTLE

[rockanroll]

I just worry that people may drink more than is good for them, if alcohol is thrust at them at every turn be it pub/supermarket or corner shop.

[rjkellet]

is this the merton hotel where my brother n his mate told the local tottie , they worked for m i 5 ,, circa late 195os , after they got back from the red light distict of gib after national sevice , nudge nudge say no more , was only once in the merton ,what an iconic place ,marble, wood ,pannelling , [maybe my memory has faded ] , saw in the paper not long ago , somebody got shot outside on stanley road ?as for weatherspoons ,was in the one in the strand in 2004 , couldnt see for flies , as for eating anything in there [in your dreams ] some strange bod was begging round the tables , n 20 mins later was arrested for shoplifting , was a nightmare , so hope the new one in merton rd is a damn sight better , wonder what the tottie is like now in 2009 , my mind would boggle if it could remember how , jan

[Eddy Lloyd]

"
some strange bod was begging round the tables , n 20 mins later was arrested for shoplifting "


Hey Jan I got off with the charge of shop lifting.

[rjkellet]

hi eddy , how come you got away with it , your gob was on posters from the sausauge works , all the ribble buses , all the corpy buses , past johnsons dye works , match works , coffee house bridge , elm house ,gladestone road [where the ladies of the night worked ] the tin works , the tannery , the toffee works , me mams bingo hall , the sun hall , stans cafe on the dock road , paddys market , lewis's , blacklers ,the daffodill , royal iris, swifts [where me n rob bought our first double bed ] 4 pound ten , delivered on a hand cart , ]grogans ,[thank god she stayed open till 10 0 clock so i could get me dad his woodies ]so expect your d n a are on file also your finger prints , so watch , yourself when you crawl out the merton , regards jan

[Eddy Lloyd]

I said it was "our kid" Jan

[JULIA ARROWSMITH]

ANY ONE NO WHOS GOT THE IMPROVEMENT CONTRACT SO MY SON-INLAW CAN GO PHONE TO SEE IF ANY JOINERS ARE NEEDED

[Jan]

Hi Julia,

Take a look at this link from Sefton Council's website.

http://www.sefton.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=5297&qlink=1

Hope it helps.

Jan

[JULIA ARROWSMITH]

THANKS JAN YOU GEM

[oriel55]

Hi Julia,

Take a look at this link from Sefton Council's website.

http://www.sefton.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=5297&qlink=1

Hope it helps.

Jan

Very helpful Jan. I was able to locate and read the proposed plans for a four-storey block of flats in Oriel Road on the site of the old GPO/Council Garage opposite the end of Trinity Road.

G

[arthur]

THE MERTON HOTEL.
My wife and i were married in St Monicas Bootle in june of 1960, we had our wedding reception at the merton. At that time it was a nice place to take a girlfriend or wife for a night out.
A few years ago we visited Bootle and went to the merton for a drink,we could not belive how it had changed,Loud Music, gambling machines, and taxicabs, arriveing full of young people already drunk.
We left a little puzzled at the change.
Hope the renovation will return it to a hotel that people can enjoy, we hope to visit somtime later this year.
Still think about and miss bootle.
Born in Partington ave 1935 Arthur

[PETER CRAIG]

.

[Eddy Lloyd]

Peter I think there will be music. They have Lloyds in town and have music on there. Having a late license can only be to attract the young but lets see.

[Shaun]

Lloyds are the trendier/younger side to Wetherspoons and they indeed do have music in every Lloyds bar I'm afraid..

It's basically going to be just like the old Merton of a weekend, loud..full of scallies and basiclaly trouble.. Read in the Bootle Times that police are insisting on a Knife xray machine doorarch..

[JUNE]

My daughter who is 20 would not go to the Merton. Went once and said the DJ was crude, encouraging the scallies to basically ridicule all the girls with foul language. Full of foul mouthed, angry young people, full of attitude looking for trouble. Not a place you would want your kids to go to on a night out. One of the lads who works for us went with his 3 mates, came outside to get a taxi and was jumped by youths for no reason other than being from outside the area.

[Shaun]

Best thing for that place is to get knocked down to be honest.. You'd think being right in front of a courtroom it would persuade people to be sensible though..

[Gail Chadwick]

Hi, my Mum Coralie played the piano in the pub for years, 1960"s, and also done the cleaning there, What good memories, having a bottle of Lemonade on a Sunday outside of course, as we were too young, but i did peep to see my mum play the Piano



Gail x

[tipster]

Well , here goes, almost every pub/club in Liverpool centre, has a metal detector,almost every pub/club plays music.
Would we be so loud in our opposition,if the place installed a piano for sing songs. This is a company investing money in a run down area, which has had a glut of pubs, It is going to offer long term jobs, to people in desperate need of a job,It is not surrounded by residential property. And you can not tar it with the same brush, as the previous tenant, There are 2 police stations within 3 miles of it,Surely it has to be right to congratulate them, in trying to breath new life into the place.
Or i know flatten it, build a load of flats, for some more bloody illegals to live in, off our taxes, Well done Weateherspoons, I will be calling in, Though i am normally asleep by 11.30