City centre pub needed 'big and bold' change to stay alive

A city centre pub has said its wide-ranging refurbishment was required for it to stay afloat.

The Fly in the Loaf on Hardman Street is now known simply as The Fly, after a significant facelift which cost almost £200,000. The pub was transformed before Christmas, with its traditional look replaced by a bright new aesthetic.

The handsome building used to be home to the Liverpool Vienna Bakery, run by the Kirkland brothers, which opened in the 19th century. In 1975, it then became Kirklands wine bar - an iconic spot which was the place to be for a night out in the city.

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Kirklands closed its doors in 1999 and the building reopened five years later as The Fly in the Loaf - taking its name from the bakery's "no flies in the loaf" slogan. The pub became a popular venue in its own right, complementing many historic watering holes in the Georgian Quarter.

However, manager Sol Jones explained that The Fly, owned by Market Town Taverns, had been through some leaner times recently - amid a tough trading environment - and a change was required to breathe new life into it. The 22-year-old from Toxteth has been brought in from his assistant manager role at Market Town Taverns' Dale Street venue Thomas Rigby's to bring The Fly into a new era.

About the change, he told the ECHO: "Lady of Mann and Thomas Rigby's are very busy sites, but here it was a bit stagnant. It had been the same for the while and it just felt we needed to change something to make this site a bit busier.

"It's a very student-based area around here but there were no offers, no appeal for any students to come in. We wanted to