The Caledonia - Back for good

The Caledonia Pub is to stay. Today the pub has been granted a reprieve and the new owners and indefatigable landlady Laura can carry on the good work she’s been doing in turning this cornerstone of the community round.

The Catharine Street pub was mooted to be yet another student flats development, and the mysterious new owners offered Laura just 28 days to find a new home, when the pub’s owners Admiral Taverns agreed to let the property go as a ‘vacant possession’.

Following a concerted campaign from the city, including Joe Anderson’s mooted involvement, and talk of the pub becoming, retrospectively, an Asset of Community Value, the pub’s been granted an 11th hour reprieve.

“I feel like I want to sleep for two months,” Laura tells SevenStreets.

“The new owners had no idea it was so well loved. They’re a local property investment company, from Liverpool. They just didn’t have a clue who we were. They bought the place off paper, without visiting us. As soon as they came, they saw we were not a shitty little pub.” Quite.

“Admiral Taverns didn’t give a damn, they just wanted to get shut,” Laura tells SevenStreets. “But as soon as the new owners came to see us, they could see we were worth saving.”

Now, when they exchange keys at the end of the month, the new owners promise to keep the pub on as a going concern.

“It’s brilliant news, power to the people!” Laura laughs. Pints all round.

The Caledonia
Catherine Street