The Little Taproom on Aigburth Road did not have the easiest start to life.
A micro pub and gin distillery, the Taproom serves independent beer from its homely setting on L17's main road. The pub launched on Friday, March 13 2020 and its opening night was packed with people excited by Aigburth's new offering. By the following Friday, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson had told the public to avoid all non-essential contact and warned against going to pubs amid the outbreak of Covid-19. On March 23, 2020, the UK was placed into the first national lockdown.
Just ten days after opening their new venture, owners Si Vanderbelt and Aggy Perreau had to adapt to keep the Taproom alive. Sitting in the pub's front room as he prepares for an evening of work, Si told the ECHO: "We opened on Friday 13 March 2020 and were closed as a pub the following Friday - not the most auspicious start.
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"But what drew us here was that it's a really nice neighbourhood. So we decided in summer 2019 that we were going to do something. We had a few neighbourhoods in mind and it became a case of thinking where we could get the right property. We saw some on this stretch and it's actually ideal.
"It's somewhere we identified which really wanted and needed what we were offering. We went for it and we announced around August 2019. Our opening night, despite the fact we were at the start of a global pandemic, was crazy busy. Still remains one of the busiest nights we've had."
Unable to welcome guests inside during lockdown, the Taproom started to sell draught and cask beer in milk bottles to take away. Without the chance to meet friends in pubs, people often took the milk jugs to nearby Sefton Park to enjoy a socially-distanced pint.
About this, Si said: "Lockdown was such a weird time. We had regulars, even across Christmas lockdown. That winter lockdown and we could only sell from the door, people couldn't even come in for it. We've got a couple of lads who are regulars, I've known them for years in other pubs, and Saturday night pints is their 'thing'.
"And on a cold Saturday night at 7pm, pitch black, they'd come here and get a few takeaway bottles and cans, and go and sit in Sefton Park with blankets and have their Saturday night pint because damn should their tradition be ruined."
Three years on from the start of the first lockdown, Si and Aggy's pub is part of the furniture on Aigburth Road. It is one of a growing number of independent hospitality businesses to have set up shop there in recent years.
When they moved into the area, Si - who is originally from Wales but now lives near Sefton Park - thought Aigburth had a number of good pubs, but felt there was a niche that he and Aggy could fill.
He said: "The Fulwood is great, it's a lovely pub, The Old Bank is as well. Obviously you've got a whole range of stuff on Lark Lane. But what the area really lacked was someone who was going to offer what we offered - a very chilled atmosphere.
"It's designed around just coming in and having a chat over a decent pint. The beers we are offering are only from independents, but really nice modern beer that you can't drink anywhere else around here.
"What we've got, you've usually got to go into town for. We have regulars coming down from Speke and Woolton and they come all the way here because it's their nearest space which can offer this.
"So many pubs are stuck with the breweries or the beer companies that own them or leases to them. We set up to be completely independent of everyone. We can put on any beer that we want and that's always been the case. We get beers that nobody else gets in Liverpool and it's great."
With staff members who care about the beer they serve, the Taproom is a haven for any drinker. People have certainly taken to it - the pub's compact space is often packed out with people coming for an array of interesting and independent beer in a relaxed, homely setting.
I put it to Si that a night in the tap room is like a night in a friend's living room - easy to chat the hours away over a few beers as part of a friendly group of regulars. It is a comparison he welcomes.
He said: "If someone describes the fact that the snug is like having a beer in a friend's living room, that's it. We've done and achieved everything we wanted to.
"Our customers are 95% regulars, they're all in a few times a week. We know them all and we get excited when they bring their new-borns in for the first time or bring new people in.
"We absolutely love that. We just wanted to be part of this community."
A key part of Aigburth Road's offering of independents and a must visit for any beer drinker, the Taproom has certainly achieved that.
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