The Merton Inn, a historic pub in Bootle that has been closed and boarded up since 2024, has been put up for sale with a £950,000 price tag. The property is now listed on Rightmove, and planning permission was approved in January 2025 to convert the first and second floors into an 18-bed hotel while retaining the ground floor as a public house.
History of the Merton Inn
The Merton Inn has operated as a pub since the 1970s, originally built from two villas in the 1930s. During the Second World War, it was used as a hospital before being converted into a pub. It later became a Wetherspoon venue before being sold in 2016, when the chain decided to part with 45 pubs across the country for what it described at the time as "commercial reasons."
Michael James Brennan, who posted a photograph of the pub from the 1960s on a Facebook page called Bootle and Sefton History, told the ECHO: "The Merton was originally a semi-detached Victorian villa. In the 1930’s, the houses were knocked through and extended to the right, becoming the Merton Hotel. During the war it was converted into a clinic for American service personnel." The photograph is from a book published by Bootle County Borough Council.
Current condition and council involvement
The building remains boarded up, and its future is uncertain. The ECHO has previously attempted to reach the owners on several occasions without success, and Sefton Council has also been trying to make contact with those responsible for the building. A council spokesperson told the ECHO: "We've tried to contact the Merton on a number of occasions with no response so far, and are working with neighbourhood policing. If we continue to have no response, we will look into issuing a community protection warning due to a lack of communication on the matter."
When the ECHO visited the Merton Inn in September, tables and planters were found overturned in the beer garden, with plants overgrowing and litter scattered across the area. The pub is currently listed as permanently closed on Google.
Sale listing details
According to the listing, the description states: "The Merton Inn is a landmark building, with its origins rooted in the mid-20th century as a traditional pub that has served the local community for generations." It adds: "The property provides a ground-floor public house/restaurant with ancillary accommodation on the first floor and former letting accommodation on the second floor." The ECHO also reached out to the letting agency for more information.
