Maguires Pizza Bar
Maguire’s Pizza Bar owners post emotional social media message, Getintothis’ Peter Guy on the sudden closure.
Maguire’s Pizza Bar in Liverpool city centre is to close in September.
The popular independent venue which regularly hosts punk, garage and DIY gigs as well as serving up food, is to shut after more than five years.
Breaking the news on the venue’s Facebook page, owner Helen Maguire said the closure followed a ‘tough year’ and was shutting the venue at the end of August.
However, she went on to say the venue will be reopening with gigs that are booked in for the remainder of the year set to go ahead.
She added: “It’s been an amazing experience and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved. I’ve met tons of awesome people and had the privilege of hearing hundreds, if not thousands of boss bands.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who’s ever bought a pizza, to the promoters and bands who’ve put gigs on and played here, to the people who’ve supported us and helped us to build the venue up and our absolutely awesome staff who’ve always been amazing and super understanding over the past month.”
The love and affection for Maguire’s was evident, within an hour of the Facebook post going live, there were over 150 comments.
Gig goer, David Yates said: “Well done on putting a decent place people have real affection for together and best of luck with whatever you do next.”
Promoter, Krystian Hudson, of Yeah Buddy, who has staged numerous shows at Maguires, added: “Said this to you personally but it’s 100% worth putting here: Maguires is Yeah Buddy DIYs home, it has been an incredible platform for us to be able to build the exciting music scene that we have in Liverpool now. One of the best DIY venues around and a place that people will rue the loss of for years to come. Its been an amazing time and we’ve been delighted to have been a part of it. Thank you.”
Renowned for its DIY ethos, Maguire’s hosted gigs including the likes of Peter Bentham and the Dinner Ladies, AntiPop Records, Hawk Eyes, SSS, False Advertising, Scouts, Drifts and almost every Merseyside punk and garage band worth their salt.
Promoter, Joe Florek added: “I put on loads of the early Howl at the Moon gigs there, inc Gozilla! with Mincemeat supporting (when they were called Big Safari) and accidentally booking seven bands to play with Actionbeat and the HATM Hot Sauce launch party was there too, plus four years of Open Decks nights. Will be much missed.”
Kazimier and Invisible Wind Factory, general manager, Liam Naughton, echoed the sentiments saying: “Sorry to hear this. Well done for keeping so great for so long.”
- Getintothis wishes Helen and all the staff well and good luck with their next endeavours. We will be updating this story with further news.
Maguire’s Pizza Bar Facebook statement
“Hi everyone. I’m afraid I come to you with some sad news. We’ve had a really tough year here at Maguire’s and because of this, amongst a few other things, I’ve made the decision to close at the end of this month. Its not been easy and I’m going to be really sad to see the place close as both myself and the staff have worked so hard over the years to make the bar what it is today. But it’s been getting harder and harder to stay afloat and I’ve just run out of the physical and mental energy it takes to keep the place going.
It’s not all bad news though, someone else is taking the venue on and will be creating a brand new bar at the front. So any gigs that are currently booked in will still be going ahead and there’ll be loads more exciting stuff to come.
It’s been an amazing experience and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved. I’ve met tons of awesome people and had the privilege of hearing hundreds, if not thousands of boss bands. I want to say thank you to everyone who’s ever bought a pizza, to the promoters and bands who’ve put gigs on and played here, to the people who’ve supported us and helped us to build the venue up (you know who you are!), our absolutely awesome staff who’ve always been amazing and super understanding over the past month. And special thanks to my friends and boyfriend who helped us get through that first rocky year by buying loads of booze and who’ve put up with me being a big ball of stress for the past 5 and a half years. And finally to my family who have continued to support me both emotionally and financially and especially to my dad who basically built the place.
We’re having a wrestling party on the 26th August to say goodbye with our good mates Spanish Announce Team and the gig on the 1st September will be our last day open.
It’s been fun, thanks for an amazing few years. Helen x“
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