on writing / Published novels / reading community

Location, Location, Location #15

Chris Hall34 Comments
Location No. 15 – The Royal Liver Building, Liverpool

Today, on our literary journey through the pages of my novels, we’re back in Liverpool outside the Royal Liver Building, one of the most recognisable buildings in the city and the setting for a meeting between local Triad leader, Albie Chan and nightclub owner, Alan Green, two of my favourite supporting characters from You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Back in the 1990s, I considered myself fortunate to receive the instruction to carry out an insurance inspection of the building, so I’ve had the privilege of poking around all the nooks and crannies of this historic building from the basement boiler room to the feet of the famous birds that perch on top of the two clock towers!

Completed in 1911, coincidentally the same date as the house we visited last time we were in the city, the building was constructed as the head office of Royal Liver Assurance. It was one of the first buildings in the world to be built of reinforced concrete, and its design has much in common with early American skyscrapers. Thirteen floors high, looking out over the river Mersey, it is an impressive part of the Liverpool skyline, especially when viewed from the opposite bank. Two huge clock towers rise from the building, where two mythical Liver Birds perch (liver rhyming with fiver), each bearing a branch of seaweed in its beak. Various legends attach to these 18ft high birds and one of these is mentioned by Alan Green in the excerpt below.

After hours, the car park on the river side is deserted and rather desolate; the ideal location for Messrs Chan and Green to meet to discuss a bit of business. Let’s join them now…

Excerpt from You’ll Never Walk Alone

The late afternoon sunlight sparkled on the surface of the murky River Mersey. The fresh-smelling breeze, blowing from the estuary, almost masked the odour of the nearby tannery. Big Al and Joe were leaning on the polished burgundy paintwork of Big Al’s Jaguar XJ6. Big Al looked up at the clock on the Liver Building. It was almost half past six and Chan was late.

“What’s that chinky bastard up to, keeping me waiting like this? Our Pauline said she’s doing something special for our tea tonight. She’ll give me down the banks if I’m late home.” Big Al started to pace about.

Joe shrugged. “Dunno boss.” He looked around. “Eh up, this must be him,” said Joe pointing at the large black Mercedes rounding the corner of the Liver Building.

Big Al watched as the car cruised up to them. The driver got out. Big Al noticed he was limping. The driver opened the rear door and Albie Chan got out. He was immaculately dressed entirely in black, the only decoration being two tiny dragon heads facing each other on the mandarin collar of his shirt. Big Al was wearing a rather lived-in sports jacket and shapeless cords. Despite his wife’s protests, Alan Castle was a man who dressed for comfort rather than style.

Chan spoke first: “Mr Castle.”

“Albie, mate!” Chan flinched, unnoticed by Big Al, who continued, holding out his hand. “Call me Al, you know, like in the song?” Chan gazed at him blankly, ignoring the proffered hand. “Never mind.” Big Al clapped his hands together. “You know the story about Bella and Bertie? You know, the Liver Birds up on the towers there?” He pointed at the Liver Building behind them. Chan raised an eyebrow. “Well Bella’s the girl, looking out to sea for a sailor; and the other one, Bertie, he’s the fella, and he’s looking to see if the pubs are open yet, which they have been for the last thirty minutes.”

Bertha and Bertie

“Mr Castle, are you referring to the fact that I am a little late? I regret to say that I have had some unforeseen business to attend to. That business concerned the two individuals you spoke to me about last night, one of whom I had expected you to bring to me.”

Big Al frowned. Before he could say anything, Chan went on: “You telephoned me last night to say that my men had caused some disruption in your establishment. I explained the reason for the disturbance and you said you would handle it. After we spoke, I assumed that you would intervene and get hold of the man I was seeking straight away. You did not. Since you did not intervene, my men continued their pursuit. Later, there was an altercation involving the gentleman and his lady friend, which included Ju-long here,” Chan indicated his driver. “Unfortunately,” he went on, glaring at the hapless employee, “Ju-long and the two men with him were outmanoeuvred. Then this morning, when you still failed to deliver, I put out some feelers. Information led to Ju-long attempting to apprehend the target at The Adelphi Hotel, but I am disappointed to say that once again he failed.” Chan paused and gave Ju-long a sideways glace. “Ju-long knows precisely how disappointed I am.” Big Al looked at Ju-long, but his face remained impassive behind his dark glasses.

“So what happened?” asked Big Al.

“What has happened is irrelevant. What is important is that the man known as Pierre Bezukhov got away. I have unconcluded business with him, which I am anxious to complete. I thought I had explained this to you already. Clearly you did not understand the urgency of the matter. I need to apprehend him and I am reluctant to leave it in the hands of incompetents.”

There was a pause. Big Al said: “Well now, no worries, I’ll just get on the blower and ask whatshisname? New DJ…Joe?”

“Mark,” supplied Joe helpfully.

“Yeah, get on the blower to Mark. We’ll get hold of him, find the girl, and she in turn will lead us to your guy. Simple. You don’t need to have people running around town beating each other up. Although I’m surprised a big guy like him,” Big Al pointed at Ju-long, “couldn’t take on a couple of dancers.”

Joe detected a twitch on Ju-long’s otherwise inscrutable face.

“Bezukhov has displeased me and I want him found. I am inclined to leave it to you on this occasion since I have a temporary personnel problem.”

Big Al rubbed his hands together. “So this guy owes you money? What’s the deal? And more importantly, what’s my cut?”

“Let us see if you can come up with the goods first,” Chan said. “After all, it was your offer and at this stage you have failed to deliver.”

“Eh, I’m not just doing this outta the goodness of me heart.”

“Well you would not want anything untoward to happen to ‘The Pink Parrot’, would you? Even the stupidest of my men can torch a place.”

Big Al held his hands up: “Alright, alright, leave it with me.”

“Very good, Mr Castle, I will give you until the end of this week. Now run along, I wouldn’t want your supper to get cold.”

And finally, a little music to play us out. ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’ written by the late Gerry Marsden. This version, sung by Liverpool band, Frankie Goes to Hollywood was in the charts at about the time the novel is set. The accompanying video is more recent, but gives you a feel for the location.

As an aside, I once had to take the ferry across to Birkenhead in my slippers because I’d locked myself out of our student house popping down to the corner shop for some milk. My three housemates had all gone home for the holidays and that was were the landlord stayed. Happy days!

You’ll Never Walk Alone is available from Amazon in paperback and ebook and on Kindle Unlimited
USA ~ UK ~ CAN ~ AUS ~ IND ~ the rest of the world

Image credits: smarttravelapp.com, explore-liverpool.com

34 thoughts on “Location, Location, Location #15”

  3. I don’t have to read this post because I am still not so far in your book 😉😄 it is one of the best books I ever read and I will finish it soon, if my grandchildren let me 😅 because I want to have more books from you 🤗❤
    PS: I was only one time in Liverpool for three days, it was never enough for me. I must try it again 😊✌❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • What a lovely thing to say about my book! Thank you for the compliment, Aladin 🙂 The fact that you already want to read more is very exciting for me!

      Liverpool has been transformed, much for the better, since the time in which YNWA was set and after 10 years away, I doubt I’d recognise much of it. Undoubtedly worth a visit some day, but in the meantime we can continue on our virtual tour 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. It’s a magnificent building, and mesmerising to see at night. So lucky you got to see it inside back then, from top to bottom. Around 2006ish my old band played the Cavern Club, so before and after our gig we went walking to take in the city sights. The other time I went was an overnight stop at a hotel at JL airport, and the next morning outside we saw this cool sculpture of the Yellow Submarine. And yes, was sad to hear about Gerry Marsden passing recently.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • Aquila. No, it wasn’t part of the celebrations, we came up from Brum as a one off booking in the concert room part – though we did stick around for some acoustic acts in the old alcove part where the F4 played – amazing at how tiny it was, and to think of cramming amps and drums and mic stands in plus four band members!
        Anyway, was brilliant to be welcomed there and play, and just to sense all that musical history.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        • I think I’ve found you and sorry to have missed that gig. Actually, the Cavern you played isn’t the original, although it has a fine heritage, particularly in it’s incarnation as Eric’s in the late 1970s. The original Cavern remains buried in a basement in the site opposite (tour guide fact). I have to say that Liverpool is one of the friendliest places ever.

          Liked by 2 people

          Reply

          • Ah, you are right, I didn’t know about the British Rail demolition of the original! So lucky they managed to secure the premises opposite, and continue with the history.
            It would have been the Cavern Live Lounge we played back then (just nipped over to their website to see). Agree, lovely friendly atmosphere when I went.

            Liked by 2 people

            Reply

  9. Ok so… it’s just dawned on me that the Royal Liver Building is probably not named after actual “liver”, as in “liver and onions” or as in a person’s liver. So it the building named after the mythical birds? Is that where the city gets its name? Like from a pool where the liver birds hang out? 🤔Or is it the last name of someone I never learned about in history here in the US?🧐

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Good question! As far as I know, the city of Liverpool is named after what was once a muddy pool by the banks of the river where the settlement was established way, way back. The birds were something to do with the pool (and a lot of local people refer to the city as The ‘Pool), but I’m sure the building is named after the insurance company ‘Royal Liver’ (as in fiver), rather than the other way round. However, where the different pronunciations came from is a mystery to me. Maybe it’s something to do with Liverpool being where people live? ‘Liverpool is the Pool of Life’ – Carl Jung.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a reply - I'd love to hear from you.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.