Liverpool, and Goodison Road, will say farewell to an institution today, when the Winslow Hotel closes its door for the final time
The Winslow Hotel, the 'People's Pub', as fans of Everton gathered and congregated ahead of the final ever men's fixture at Goodison Park, the Premier League match between Everton FC and Southampton FC on May 18, 2025. Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
The Winslow Hotel, the 'People's Pub', as fans of Everton gathered and congregated ahead of the final ever men's fixture at Goodison Park, the Premier League match between Everton FC and Southampton FC on May 18, 2025. Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images(Image: )
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Liverpool will say farewell to an institution today.
I say Liverpool and not just Everton because I mean it. The Winslow Hotel may be a pub doused in Royal Blue memories but football and the communities that build up around the beautiful game are an indelible part of this city's life, soul and character.
There were always going to be winners and losers when Everton moved from Goodison Park to the Liverpool waterfront, a switch that needed to happen for the club to progress. The closure of the Winslow Hotel is more than collateral damage though, it's a genuine moment of loss.
It seems strange to imagine the 'People's Pub' - which actually opened before the famous stadium that for so long has sat opposite - closed. My image of the pub is a happy one. For years it was the last scene that would greet me before I entered Goodison through the wooden press room door opposite, the first glimpse of the real world that awaited me when I was finally finished with my matchday duties, it was almost always riotous.
My abiding memory will be after the final men's game at Goodison, coming out after the Southampton win to a full-blown party that, as ever, had spilled onto the streets. I saw the then newly-appointed chief executive Angus Kinnear, like others who were passing, try to pick his way through the crowds outside - some recognising him in his first week or so in the job - and wondered what he made of his first glimpse of Everton mania.
My memories do go much further back, to being a kid swallowed by the crowds as I made the trip to Goodison with my uncle and cousins. It never stopped being overwhelming - the thronging mass of supporters, the history, which lined the walls and hung in the shadows, the hope and expectation that builds in those final hours before kick-off. The smell of beer.
I have always loved football but my childhood was spent on Football League terraces. Coming up to Liverpool to watch Everton was a real treat. ‘Hold your breath’ as you enter the tunnel, get swept up in the pre-match crowds at the pub and then, having not been old enough to actually drink, get drunk off the buzz of the matchday crowd inside one of football’s iconic stadiums.
For so many of the past few years the pub has appeared as a mirage through the blue pyro smoke that hung in the air as thousands crammed the narrow streets around the ground to welcome players mired in relegation fights that were about more than 'just' football given the perilous state of the club's finances.
The home crowd pulled Everton's players through those dark days and the raucous atmosphere inside the stadium, inspiring to those in blue and hostile to those who were not, was often rooted in the spirit that roiled and boiled in the hallowed rooms of the pub.
One of my favourite memories of Goodison was the Crystal Palace win. I know there is a wider lament about the club having fallen to the depths it did that season, but in isolation the emotion and drama of that night is unparalleled, certainly in my time covering Everton.
My memory of the occasion starts under the sunshine on Goodison Road, in a queue outside the press room, watching Meatball Molly on a ladder attaching a banner above one of the doorways ahead of the fearsome coach welcome that was to come.
I still don't think I could say with confidence that I know the geography of that place. It all blended into one for me - it was the best and worst place to meet anyone.
Entering through one of the doors was like a portal to another world - I never knew what would await. One minute there would be FA Cup winner Joe Parkinson to say hello to, then there would be a stoppage for feedback, good and bad, on my coverage.
The next twist might take me into the folds of the Everton Fan Advisory Board or the 1878s but always a frantic search for change for the cash bar.
And that was all part of the heady concoction that was the Winslow. For all that my matchday duties would take me away from being able to enjoy a drink there, I still found myself navigating the crowds and the furniture to meet friends and supporters who had travelled to the games, often from overseas who wanted to say hello as they let the Royal Blue tide wash over them in all of its glory.
Hands shook, team sheets handed over, too many grimaces at the events that had just unfolded inside a ground the team struggled to give an adequate send-off before the return of David Moyes 12 months ago.
I have no doubt the festival that will mark the pub’s closure today will be a wonderful occasion - landlord Dave Bond says he could have sold out six times over. It will certainly be an emotional goodbye, not the first on Goodison Road in the past year.