Plaque unveiled to commemorate Pete the Busker in the city centre spot where he played

A plaque has been unveiled in tribute to Pete the Busker on the exact spot in Liverpool city centre where he regularly played.

Peter Mickle (Pete the Busker) was a popular sight with his trademark top hat, bright suits and plastic guitar outside Boots on Church Street until his death aged 64 last summer.

Now he’ll have a permanent place on the city’s main shopping street, immortalised on a plaque set into the pavement bearing an inscription with his name, hat and microphone.

The idea for the tribute came from photographer Adam Thompson, the man behind the Humans of Liverpool Instagram account.

He photographed Pete almost six years ago when he first started the page and Adam felt it was only right that Pete was recognised for having entertained so many people.

Adam, who lives in Halewood, explains:

“Just shortly after he passed away I put a post out commemorating Pete because I’d done a short story on him and people really loved it because he’s such a Liverpool icon. 

“I had the idea for a tribute so I contacted Kenny Brew from Liverpool Streetscene at the council and he said they thought it was a great idea and they’d love to do it. 

“We got things in motion then and over the course of a few weeks we worked on some draft designs together, and made sure his family were happy with it. They suggested having the hat and the microphone which looks great.”

Pete, who lived in Birkenhead, was laid to rest at Landican cemetery in Wirral in August last year.

Since then he’s been missed by shoppers who enjoyed his distinctive style and Adam says he hopes the plaque – unveiled by Lord Mayor Cllr Mary Rasmussen, Pete’s sister Carol Casey & his niece Nina Casey – will bring back lots of happy memories of a real entertainer.

Lord Mayor Cllr Mary Rasmussen said:

“He brought such a lot of happiness to so many people and I think we don’t very often acknowledge things like that so it’s really nice and quite a unique thing for Pete to be honoured in this way.

“He’d been busking on that spot for years, he felt like a fixture there, and what was even more remarkable was he came over from the Wirral almost every day to do it.

“He didn’t necessarily have the best natural singing voice but that wasn’t what he was about, everyone just loved the entertainment. At the unveiling ceremony, Pete’s sister Carol was telling me he was actually supremely confident – he’d say, I’ve got the voice, I’ve got the looks, I’ve got everything! I love to think that was his mindset and his approach, and we all need a bit more of that.”

Adam and Pete’s family hope that other buskers will now take on the spot and keep the music going as Pete’s legacy.

“I hope we don’t retire the shirt number now,” he adds. “I think he would have liked people to keep busking there and I’m working on getting some musicians to play a mini gig in his name in that spot and we’ll hopefully organise that soon and donate money to one of his favourite charities.”

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