The Pilgrim pub is about to reopen - and the two things regulars loved most will still be there

The Pilgrim pub in the Georgian Quarter is about to reopen and it’s still got the two things regulars loved most about the original – the jukebox and cheap drinks!

The basement pub on Pilgrim Street, which has long been a big favourite especially with Liverpool students, closed at the end of last year.

It was taken over by the 1936 Pub Company, who’ve most recently completed refurbs on Alma de Cuba and The Monro, as well as an award-winning restoration of The Vines on Lime Street.

Now less than two months after the new owners picked up the keys and began work, The Pilgrim will be back open on Wednesday (April 16) along with a newly-created neighbour venue The Mayflower.

And, says Mary Jane King from the 1936’s operations team, drinkers will be nicely surprised by just how familiar the place looks and feels.

She explained:

“With The Pilgrim in particular it was very sensitive because it’s so deeply loved and so important to so many people’s memories, especially students past and present,”

“We knew that we couldn’t and wouldn’t take any of that away, so very little has changed, it is the same old Pilgrim but just a bit better.

“We’ve tidied it up and added to it but not really taken away. We’ve left all the tableside jukeboxes in place but they unfortunately don’t work anymore so we put in a new vintage-style jukebox. That plays CDs, it’ll be free and it will have an incredible selection of tunes.

“We’ve also added a Bond-themed Dr No pinball machine which is really fun, but people will recognise a lot of what’s still there because we’ve kept the original tables, all the booths along the walls and most of the original lighting as well as the original signage outside that’s been cleaned up.

“When we took on The Pilgrim of course we looked at what everyone said about it because we really value the response from people who live in the city and go to places.

“We don’t want to make something modern and new that people don’t necessarily want to happen to a place that they love. We’d like to do what we can to keep a place special.

“The jukeboxes and cheap drinks prices were the two things that came up most, so I think people will be happy to see the beautiful new jukebox and that we’re doing our best to stick with those student prices on our house everything.”

While The Pilgrim is a spruced-up version of its old self, The 1936 Pub Company has made The Mayflower pretty much from scratch.

Mary Jane adds:

“At the same time that we’ve been making small thoughtful improvements to The Pilgrim we’ve been doing what we’re used to doing upstairs which is ripping out and completely changing the space,”

“What was the old function room and an office space has become its own entity – The Mayflower.

“You can go into The Pilgrim via the beer garden which we’ve done up, and then next to it is the frontage for The Mayflower which has been designed entirely differently and has its own entrance. When you go in to The Mayflower, off to the side is the lovely iron spiral staircase and that connects the two.

“The Pilgrim is different to anything else we’ve done, but The Mayflower is the one which has similar things you can find in our other venues in other parts of the city.

“We like the idea that if you love one place on Duke Street you can keep that same vibe going by walking up the road and finding a place that has its own unique traits but with the same feel. Then you can pop to the actual Pilgrim itself and it’s an entirely different atmosphere.”

Find out more about The Pilgrim here.

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