A Liverpool nan has been picking up the pieces of her life after watching her dream — and £70,000 — vanish overnight in a disaster that left her heartbroken. Paula Rimmer, 53, from West Derby, had only just opened her new pub when everything came crashing down — quite literally.
Paula, a mum-of-three and proud nan-of-five (soon to be seven), had built up a glowing reputation for herself with the Alhambra Bar, originally set up in the lively Cain’s Brewery area. Business was booming, so in June 2021, she made the move to a bigger venue in Old Swan to keep up with demand. But what seemed like a step forward turned into her worst nightmare.
Just five weeks after opening the doors to the new venue, a burst water pipe beneath the premises caused major flooding — and completely wrecked the bar. “The whole event was very stressful. Thousands of pounds just like that were washed away,” Paula told the ECHO. “I invested over £70,000, and five weeks later, there was nothing to show for it.”
The emotional toll was just as severe. “It devastated me. It broke me there and then,” she said. With the business too new to be turning a profit, she was left with absolutely nothing — forced onto Universal Credit and relying on food banks for the next three years as her mental health plummeted.
“I had to rebuild my building by selling literally anything I could. Everything I worked for, including my clothes, jewellery, and shoes, I had to sell to survive,” Paula shared. “I lost my confidence, suffered depression and didn’t work for years after the disaster.”
Prescot Road, where her bar once stood, had to be closed for weeks as engineers fixed the burst pipe and dealt with a massive sinkhole. But once the chaos subsided, Paula found the strength to start again — this time returning to a passion she’d held for decades.
She’s now back in the beauty game with her own salon, True Plasma & Aesthetics, based in the stunning Port of Liverpool Building. And it’s not just any beauty business — she’s bringing cutting-edge treatments to the city, including one she discovered while visiting her son Thomas in New York.
“Discovering the ground-breaking new PLAXEL plasma pen was just the inspiration I needed,” she said. “It feels amazing to be back in business. I’ve gained my confidence back, and it’s going even better than I imagined. I have lots of happy clients, and I’m fully booked for weeks in advance.”
