It's around 2.30pm on a Friday and The Beehive is in full swing.
Donna Summer's 'This Time I Know It's For Real' blasts out over the speakers as drinkers fill out the compact Paradise Street pub. People in the neighbouring businesses and offices still have more than three hours of their working week to get through, but the weekend here has already begun.
The pub has stood in the city centre for more than 100 years and has a friendly community of regulars. At the bar is Chris, 64, who has been drinking here since he was 18.
READ MORE: Hidden gem becomes 'second home' once you've tried family's cooking
Chris has just returned from a trip to Asia and is showing his holiday snaps to landlady Frances Lloyd and her staff Diane Crawley and Pauline McNaughten behind the bar. Over a pint of Carling, Jacobs' worker Chris tells the ECHO about his love for The Beehive - one of what he calls 'character pubs' in the city centre.
“This pub, to me, is a ‘character pub’ that I’ve been coming to for as long as I’ve been drinking", says Chris. “It’s a good local pub with great staff and friendly people. It’s an ‘olde worlde’ pub with great atmosphere. It’s a fabulous place - homely and well-liked.
“Even though I’m not from town, this is my local. I come into town and I love coming to this pub. But all the character pubs are going from town now - we’re losing that flavour. I think the city still needs to have places like that. I know I’m getting older now - I’m 64 - but you can’t make everything the same."
The loss that Chris speaks about is imminent here. The Beehive, as regulars know it, will soon be no more.
Landlady Frances will not be renewing her lease and the pub will close in February to be given a makeover by Greene King. Significant change is on the horizon and the brewery wants to reimagine the traditional pub so it can "reach its full potential".
The listing on Greene King's website says: "The Beehive, in Liverpool city centre, represents an exciting opportunity to operate a busy pub and re launch following a substantial investment. The new offer will be aimed at the 18-50 market with a focus on live sport."
It adds: "The pub is currently dated and the investment will seek to improve all areas of the site. The bar area, lounge and toilets will all be completely overhauled, as well as there being all new fixtures and fittings and signage."
A Greene King spokesperson previously told the ECHO: "We have plans to renovate The Beehive and give it a new lease of life as a pub the local community can be proud of and which future generations can enjoy for years to come. It's early days and we hope to provide more details in the future."
Landlady Frances, 65, told the ECHO earlier this month that she was not renewing her lease after a very difficult few years. Her husband died from covid in 2020 and Frances also suffered a stroke which left her unable to run the pub the way she wants.
Frances said: "If I hadn't been ill or lost my husband, I would never have given up my lease. My husband died of covid - right at the beginning - and doing the pub on my own after all those years together was really hard going.
"Then, dealing with the stress of all that, I think led to the stroke. I would never have left ever, I would have got another lease. I haven't got the strength any more otherwise I would still be behind that bar.
"I see my staff doing it and I'm not physically able to join in or help them do it anymore which hurts - that's the reason I'm getting out. It's going from me to another couple - it's not going to be a traditional pub as such, they're moving with the times. It's not my pub, it's Greene King's so I don't get a say in it."
She added: "As far as I know, it's not going to be an old-fashioned, traditional pub. Obviously, I am gutted - we're losing too many old-fashioned pubs. Everything tends to be geared towards these expensive places with wine and cocktails."
Moving with the times is of little interest to Terry and Teresa Morris, both aged 64. The Anfield couple are sitting in the corner with their friends Keith and Beryl who they met here a few years ago and they are saddened by the imminent closure and Frances' departure.
Teresa told the ECHO: "This is the friendliest pub you could ever come into. A woman could come in here on her own and feel at ease. Any woman could come here and feel safe.
"I don’t think you get this welcoming atmosphere anywhere else. Here you just feel at home. We don’t know where we’re going to drink next. We’re going to take as much of what’s in here as we can and we’ll put it up in our yard so we’ve got a replica."
Simply Red's 'Holding Back The Years' now plays over the speakers. It is clear Teresa and Terry will keep holding on to memories made here over four decades. Railway signaller Terry said: "It’s quite an intimate seating area. You just get chatting to anyone spontaneously and then they end up friends.
"I used to walk past here when we were in lockdown and I used to start crying about it being shut. Without a doubt we lost a lot by it closing during covid. I'm really saddened by the fact it's going to shut again."
Both Teresa and Terry are worried about the declining numbers of traditional pubs in the city.
Teresa said: "You look around the pub today and you look at the age group in and this is everyday. You’ll get this age group. You will get young ones coming in, hen parties and stag parties, but the bread and butter is the people who are in today - this age group. People aren't coming down here for something like a wine bar."
Terry worries that hospitality venues no longer want custom from people his age. He said: "My £20 is the same as the £20 from a 30-year-old.
"Money’s not going to be an issue but it appears to me that the accountants know the cost of everything but the value of nothing. I think, if you’ve got a traditional pub in Liverpool now, it must be like having the sword of Damocles hanging over your head. You never know when it’s going to fall."
At the bar, Jenny Mather is chatting to Fran, Diane and Pauline. Jenny, 40, from Anfield, has been coming to the pub for 22 years. Her son now works as a glass collector, helping Fran during busy times.
Jenny told the ECHO: "It’s my local in town. It’s my safe place in town. It’s a pub that you can walk in any time of day and get a happy, smiley face. It’s just a lovely little pub and I’m going to miss it when it goes.
“I don’t know which pub will be my go-to next. It depends on what they do here, but I might end up drinking up near mine - this is the only reason why I drink in town. I know a lot of the regulars, I know all of the staff because I’ve been drinking here for so long. I was here on Fran’s first day and I want to be here on her last day.
“I can understand why it’s going and I completely support Fran with the decision she’s made but it’s going to be a big shame when it closes."
Jenny said that her son's "dream" was to buy her a pint in The Beehive on his 18th birthday. He is currently 17 and The Beehive as it is now will not be there for him to do so.
She added: “This is a daytime pub - it’s one of the last bastions in town. The appeal of the pub is the type of pub it is - it’s not a wine bar, it’s not a sports bar, it’s The Beehive."
One afternoon in The Beehive showed how important it is to its big community of regulars. They just hope they won't be left behind by an appetite for change.
READ NEXT
Once a great hope, Liverpool's Chinatown is at a dead end
First picture of man murdered by 15-year-old boy
Mum left with 'bald patches' after 'drunk woman' attacks her at Lewis Capaldi gig
Mum 'knew it wasn't good news' when offered cup of tea by doctor
