Next April, Shenanigans on Tithebarn Street will mark 30 years at the heart of Liverpool's pub scene. The traditional Irish bar, once dismissed as a "white elephant", opened on April 30, 1997, after brothers Daragh and Conor McDonald transformed the empty former Rising Sun into the welcoming pub they had always imagined.
Since then, it has built a reputation for its Guinness, lively atmosphere and warm welcome, attracting office workers, students, cruise ship visitors and more than a few famous faces.
'A pub for everybody'
Daragh, 55, who lives in West Kirby, told the ECHO the secret has never been gimmicks but rather creating "a pub for everybody" where strangers become regulars, and customers return decades later with families of their own.
The journey began by accident. In 1991, Daragh's dad Tommy reconnected with an old Dublin friend, Freddie Velton, in Liverpool. A meeting over a pint led to a pub manager job at the Mason's Arms in Southport, where Daragh worked for £2.50 an hour. After a year in Oxford, he kept gravitating back to Liverpool.
It was Tommy and Freddie who spotted that the Rising Sun, opposite the United Powers pub, was for sale. "We came, had a look at it, and liked it," Daragh recalled. "It was a little bit off the beaten track, but we felt that if we opened an Irish bar, we didn't want it to be filled with flags and stuff; we wanted it to be run like a proper Irish bar, good service, a bit of craic, and all the rest of it."
A name that resonated
The name Shenanigans came from somewhere Daragh had seen it before. "I'd seen a Shenanigans somewhere else and just really liked the name, and it felt like it kind of resonated with Liverpool people."
Not everyone was convinced. A car park attendant named Joe used to tell Daragh: "That's a white elephant it will never work." But the brothers saw character in the building and made it traditional and homely.
Three tonnes of sand and a wall
To build trade early on, they ran unusual promotions, including a beach party with three tonnes of sand, parasols and beach toys inside the pub. "They were great fun," Daragh said. The sand was later dug out, bagged up and used to build a wall – much to the consternation of the bricklayer facing cigarette butts in his cement.
Guinness is the best seller. "We keep the lines really clean," Daragh said. "When people say there's good Guinness, then you sell more Guinness."
Hollywood stars and regulars
Famous guests over the years have included Cillian Murphy, who "came in with a baseball cap and was quiet and kept to himself", James Norton, who "was splitting the G with his Guinness", as well as Rylan during Eurovision, Dara Ó Briain, Frances Black, Damien Dempsey, Samantha Janus and Saoirse-Monica Jackson from Derry Girls.
Daragh also remembers drinking with members of The Farm for six months before asking what they did for a living.
The heart of the community
The pub attracts a genuine mix, from 18-year-old students to 40-year-old court workers and cruise ship passengers. "It's a pub for everyone," said Daragh. "You'll see 18-year-old lads speaking with 40-year-old women who work in the courts."
"The staff are friendly, we're not expensive, and the pints are good. We get some good bands, and solo acts too."
How to support your local
Daragh's advice is simple: "Just by using it, going to the pub, and enjoying it." People come in to enjoy themselves, he says, and that makes supporting the pub easy.
