On the corner of Covent Garden and Chapel Street in Liverpool city centre, you’ll find the Pig and Whistle pub.
The building has stood alone since it’s surroundings were bombed during the Blitz, while a handwritten sign on the front of the pub reads “it’s nicer inside.”
It’s this history and “quirkiness”, as he calls it, that attracted Neil Langfield to take over as the owner in May 2019.
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Despite many people thinking it was destined to fail, Neil, who also owns the Cross Keys, rose to the challenge of bringing the pub back to life.
Neil, 46, told the ECHO: “When we got the pub it was destitute. There were four big tellies, bland walls and no stage. It just needed TLC and making it a nice, warm and friendly pub.
"My dad helped me to paint outside and inside. It was a labour of love for all of us to get this little pub back to life and revived.”
The building dates back to the early 18th century when it was both a boarding house and a brothel.
It became a pub in 1875, when it was named after the crew bars on ships which are commonly known as the Pig and Whistle, or Pig for short.
The Pig and Whistle soon became a popular watering hole for sailors travelling the world on board sailing ships from the nearby Pier Head docks.
It holds a special place in Neil’s heart as the pub where his grandad, a former docker, used to drink as well as his dad, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Neil said: “Before I even got the pub the history of my family was in that pub for many years.
“I love that it’s a quirky little building.
“What we tried to do with it gradually is build it into a music pub. That’s what it was in the 60s and 70s.”
During the renovation of the pub, Neil and his team spoke to people with knowledge of the local area for inspiration on how to pay tribute to its history inside.
The interior was a real Labour of love, with Neil’s fiancé Laura Marshall painting a 40ft mural of Liverpool on the walls which has been a talking point ever since.
The couple are also keen to support other traditional pubs in the city, with Laura regularly drawing maps for punters of other places they should visit.
Neil said: "It’s not about making money, it’s about making it a beautiful pub and being what a pub is which is part of the community.
"We’re very LGBTQ friendly, we’ve got four staff who are gay. We’ve done drag brunches and we do 2-3 musical events a week - we just want it to be a quirky place where you can come."
However, it’s been far from smooth sailing for Neil since he took over the pub three years ago, with the pandemic forcing it to close for most of 2020.
During this time, Neil said he was unable to get a government grant due to the business being valued incorrectly and his finances soon “snowballed” to a point where the pub’s future was in doubt.
But thanks to the help of Heineken who gave him a discount on the rent and bills for the pub during lockdown, coupled with his own savings, Neil managed to keep the business afloat.
He said: "It’s been a hard 18 months, especially when the pub couldn’t reopen and some people had to quit their jobs and go and work somewhere else but they came straight back.
He said: “I think the pandemic put us back a bit. We’re not even 50 per cent of the way there with the Pig. It’s a team effort, I’ve got amazing people working with me."
Exciting plans are still in the pipeline for the Pig and Whistle, with Neil and his team planning to start serving food in the premises downstairs at the start of next year, under the name 'Porkies Deli and Dogs.'
In the longer term, the team hopes to open their own micro brewery at the pub selling a variety of different ales.
Neil added: "If you don’t evolve in the pub trade now you die.
"It’s about keeping little iconic pubs alive. If we don’t do that these pubs won’t exist any more.”
