For Toni Wilkinson, being the general manager of The Dispensary pub in Liverpool city centre is more than just a job – it’s about being a companion to the regulars who come in every day. The 36 year old from Maghull told the ECHO: “You’re a lot more than a bartender in this kind of place, you are people’s company in the daytime, and you get to speak to all walks of life and hear all their stories”.
As she took a break from serving the pub’s loyal customers, Toni said: “It’s like sitting around your grandad on a Wednesday afternoon 10 times over, they will tell you all their stories.”
She added: “There is so much love in the pub for people who have drank here longer than I’ve been alive. That resonates right through.”
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The Dispensary, which has stood on the corner of Renshaw Street and Oldham Street since 1857, is one of Liverpool’s oldest pubs. Its owner, Trevor O’Loughlin, is motivated by a desire to keep its rich history alive.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Born in Galway, Ireland, to a family of publicans and bar owners, Trevor took over the pub in 2018 and transformed it into an authentic Irish pub, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Trevor told the ECHO: “The previous landlord was retiring, his wife wasn’t well. It was an opportunity to take over what has always been a fantastic pub.”
With its historic bar and loyal regulars, The Dispensary is a beloved institution in Liverpool, and Toni and Trevor are dedicated to keeping its spirit alive. “You never really own a place like this, you’re a custodian of it. You have a period or a passage of time where it’s in your hands before it’s onto the next one.”
“I think there’s been a pub here continuously since 1857 – it’s one of the oldest pubs in Liverpool and it has been different things at various points. It was part of the Cains Brewery group of pubs and independent away from that since the demise of Cains.”
“As you come in from the main door, you see the mosaic on the floor which is the old Grapes. The Dispensary name came around 20 years ago, that was the direction it went with the then-owners of Cains and then with the Kelly’s Dispensary on Smithdown.”
Trevor didn’t want to change much about the pub when he took it over. He wants to keep all of its historic touches, including its handsome curved bar and wood panels, but he feels he has complemented it with touches from his native country.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
There is a feature wall celebrating Brian O’Driscoll’s great Irish rugby union team of the 2000s and 2010s, as well as Guinness branding and other sports regalia throughout. “The Irish decor is us putting our stamp on it”, Trevor explained.
“We wanted to make it as authentic as possible – a lot of Irish pubs aren’t really Irish.”
“A lot of this collection – all the jerseys, the signed memorabilia – is what I’ve collected over the best part of ten years. They are individual pieces, so they’re very difficult to replicate.”
“You could come in here and think ‘This is a great pub, I could try to do something similar’. But it’s almost impossible based on what is actually on the walls. There’s a broad mix of everything – there’s LFC stuff, there’s EFC stuff, but then there’s a whole broad range of various Irish stuff as well.”
“We’ve got a signed Johnny Sexton (former Ireland fly-half) jersey, a signed Irish team piece from the first time they beat New Zealand – a whole collection of all manner of stuff. It’s a work in progress, I don’t know what I’ll do once I’ve covered every bit of space in the pub, it’s still kind of ongoing.”
“It’s a beautiful pub – there aren’t many pubs that have been left as pubs. Somebody will come in and turn a pub into a bar and they will rip out stuff like this – they rip the character out of it. It’s been nice to retain as many of the original features as possible and then put our own personality on top of that.”
“Every Thursday the trad lads are in. It’s been a steady layering and a steady rise of things over the years. We have trad sessions, we’ve got a couple of girls called the Skylarks who do Saturdays for us and then Dave O’Grady is our in-house curator of music.”
“He’s another lad from Ireland and he does his Sunday night sessions. There’s live music three if not four, nights a week and then sport in between. Between sport and music, that’s seven nights a week covered.”
Trevor shared with confidence about the quality of their poured pints, “Guinness is a big deal for us. I wouldn’t be as brazen to say it’s the best Guinness in Liverpool, but I happen to think it is.”
“It’s almost an obsession to get it right. It’s my drink, so there’s quality control on a regular basis from me. We keep as good a pint of Guinness as we can, I think it’s certainly one of the best in the city.”
He expressed his deep connection with the pub: “There are lots of things I love about this pub. I think the history of it, the word I used of being a custodian – I genuinely believe that having a part in its history is fantastic.”
“Coming in and seeing the place buzzing on any evening, it’s a great place where people come in for catch-ups, they come in for sport, they come in for music.”
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
“But seeing the place buzzing, the staff are great, the clientele are great. It’s a combination of things but it’s really about the history of the pub and being part of that.”
“The pub is like a bastion away from the city centre. We get a lot of pre and post-match lads in from the football, we’ve got a lot of regular midweek drinkers and then the weekends are now as eclectic as they’ve ever been. There are lads who ride BMX and skaters who like to sit outside and relax and then indoors you’ve got the older crowd sitting down the front end and that blends into a much younger crowd at this end.”
“It’s a real great mix – we’ve worked hard to get it that way. When we took it over, it was a much, much more mature crowd and now it’s everything from 18 to 80.”
Toni promises whoever you are or whatever age, you’re guaranteed a warm reception at The Dispensary. “I think what sets us apart is the hospitality of absolutely everyone that works here”, she explained.
“They are warm, they know their stuff, they will speak to anyone. Every single person that works behind that bar makes us proud every day.”
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