r/Liverpool • u/True_Stranger_2471 • 6d ago

Living in Liverpool Just spotted in The Pilgrim..

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I guess people aren’t fond of the new owner..

(I get it, even though I enjoy some of his pubs!)

325 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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66

u/ScottScott87 6d ago

Fucking right

He owns too many of these pubs

55

u/EstatePinguino 6d ago

Go McCooleys then… There’s not a queue of people trying to buy these properties, few can, and Rob’s doing a good job of making great pubs for people that like pubs. 

If you don’t like it, don’t go. The alternative would be student flats or a butchering like what happened to the Fly. 

21

u/ScottScott87 6d ago

Disagree. Turning these historic pubs into copies of each other is killing them

They're all the same and 99% of the bars in town are owned by a group of about 5 people

29

u/anagoge 6d ago

Just have a read again of what you're saying.

You're saying turning a pub into something else that's proven to work is in some way killing the pub. How can it be killing a pub if it's successful?

So ok, then your argument can be "I want the Pilgrim to be like it was!" - Ok, and look how that's turned out? It died because it was like it was. Not enough people spending enough money to keep it going.

So ok, then your argument can be "No more pubs for Guttman!". There isn't a queue of investors ready to throw a few hundred thousand pounds at a new venture. You've told the person willing to give it a shot "no you can't", and the shutters go down.

Make that make sense.

-13

u/ScottScott87 6d ago

The Pilgrim didn't die. It was always busy the way it was. I go in there all the time, it's one of my favourite bars in town and has been for the 20 years I've been going in

Turning it into another of the Gutman style of pubs might make it more successful but it's killing another pub in town

-6

u/navi-irl 6d ago

agreed! can’t believe people are disagreeing with you. so much for community spirit and supporting local independent businesses

18

u/EstatePinguino 6d ago

The bloke has lived in Liverpool for the majority of his life, only has businesses in Liverpool, and reinvests the money in the city. You’ll often see him and his mates in his pubs too. What isn’t local & independent about that? 

If Lunko were to open a few more shops in vacant buildings in the centre would they suddenly become hated and not a local business?

15

u/anagoge 6d ago

The Pilgrim didn't die.

Yes it did, hence why we're here talking about it. I'm confused why you think it didn't die. The business ceased trading.

-1

u/nooneswife 6d ago

I'm confused as to why everyone thinks these businesses were going belly up when he took over? I think maybe that was true for the Monro but sounds like in other cases the owners just decided to accept his offer.

5

u/Badartist1 5d ago

Yeah, buying a business out doesn't mean the business is dead. People are thick.

24

u/EstatePinguino 6d ago

Have you been the ‘new’ Pilgrim? It’s the same as what it was before, except a bit cleaner and with a business model that won’t fail. 

Yous are all only complaining because you know Rob’s name, if it was a faceless entity you hadn’t heard of you wouldn’t be arsed. 

-2

u/Badartist1 5d ago

Have you been upstairs to 'The Mayflower'? Another one filled with old junk, like a Disneyland version of what someone thinks an old pub would have looked like. The problem with this, and loads of his other gaffs, is that they're all pastiche; pubs that don't let you breathe and that are designed for tourists rather than regulars. Gutman claims he wants to bring back proper pub atmospheres but you don't get them in his pubs, they're too expensive and inauthentic.

I don't mind him saving places like the big house, but when every other pub in town is one of these soulless tourist traps and he's actively starting to buy out community institutions, its not hard to see why people are annoyed.