At 9am, Ryan Paton of the ECHO holds a pint of Guinness at Sable Bar & Co in Liverpool John Lennon Airport. In most places, such an early drink would draw judgemental glances, but the airport pub exists in a suspended reality where normal rules do not apply. With everyone in transit, time zones go out the window and any time feels suitable for a first pint.
A unique cultural phenomenon
To explore this phenomenon, Paton spent a morning with holidaymakers and staff at the recently refurbished Sable & Co. The special energy of an airport pub is something he samples at most twice a year, but for Lynne Downey, it is part of daily life after 30+ years working for the airport.
The 51-year-old told the ECHO: "There's been loads of highs and loads of lows. I've grown up here. I was 19 when I started and I've had all my life experiences. Marriage, childbirth, deaths in the family. I've shared all them life journeys with my colleagues."
Lynne has seen many famous faces, including Yoko Ono: "She opened a custard cream and licked the cream off, put it back on the plate and didn't eat any of the biscuit." She has also witnessed the evolution of airport drinking culture—when she started, alcohol was only served in a ferry terminal style café to international passengers.
Staff and customers on the airport pint
Thomas Robinson, 31, started at the airport's Burger King 14 years ago and now works at Sable. He said: "It's a different kind of energy [from other bar work]. People come in more happier. It's different from the outside world. People are drinking red wine at 5am. It's wild." The bar opens at 3am, with Thursday to Sunday being the busiest periods.
Customers agreed. Brian and Gaynor Robinson from Crosby were heading to Faro, Portugal. Gaynor said: "It doesn't matter if it's an early or a late flight, you always have to have a little drink because it's that sense of going to the pub on the way [to your holiday]. It's always 5pm somewhere in the world."
Max Davies, 25, and Elliott Carroll, 24, were also off to Faro for golf. Elliott said: "As soon as you come here then you're not in a country. You just drink whatever you want, whenever you want." Olivia Bedford, travelling with family from Leeds after a stressful M62 journey, added: "It doesn't matter if it's 5 in the morning, or 5 in the evening, you've got to have a drink."
For Paton, it was back to the ECHO offices rather than the Iberian Coast, but the chance to savour the airport bar's buzz was a welcome start to the morning. Another morning Guinness will have to wait for his next journey abroad.
