Yahoo News Bar with writing on the walls offers ‘magic’ window into the past
A bar where generations of Grand National winners celebrated their victory offers a fascinating window into the past.
The McCoy’s bar at Aintree Racecourse dates back to 1904 when it was used as the old weighing room and winner’s enclosure for more than 100 years.
Today it has been turned into a bar and museum, with memorabilia from decades of Grand National races adorning the walls. Racegoers can book exclusive use of the McCoy’s bar, named after jockey AP McCoy, in advance as part of a hospitality package during the Grand National.
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The ECHO was invited for a look inside the former weighing room and winner’s enclosure as part of our Behind the Doors series which takes a closer look at some of the region’s much loved buildings.
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Aintree historian Jane Clarke told the ECHO: “The first time I went I couldn't believe I was stepping into a magic kingdom so to speak. I'd watched it on TV so many times and I never thought I'd go in the weighing room at Aintree."
All the winners came in there. The jockeys used to weigh out and weigh in. They had really old scales and they actually had a sauna for the jockeys in there to lose weight because they have to weigh as light as they can to ride horses.
“Part of the Grand National's charm is its history. There's very, very few sporting events that have such a long or colourful history.
“I take a lot of tours around here and people say when they go in [the old weighing room] they can feel the hairs on the back of their neck stand up because that feeling, that anticipation, the jockeys must have felt for years and years is still there in some small way.
“Sitting in there in the olden days, obviously with no TVs, the jockeys just sat twiddling their thumbs until it was time to go out and ride in the race. It was a much more dangerous race then and I think you can still feel those nerves jangling.”
The first winner to be brought into the winner’s enclosure was Moifaa, who travelled to Aintree from New Zealand and won the 1904 Grand National.
In 2005, a new weighing room and winner’s enclosure was built on the racecourse as part of a major renovation.
But Aintree continues to play homage to the history of the former weighing room inside McCoy’s, where you’ll find silks from Grand National racehorses dating back to 1886 before the building even existed.
Jockeys Brian Fletcher and Tommy Stag, who rode Red Rum to his three victories, changed their clothes and weighed out at the former weighing room.
Red Rum’s saddle is now kept inside McCoy’s museum along with Brian Fletcher’s breeches and boots.
Jane said: “The tradition here is, when a jockey wins the National he writes his name on the wall underneath the peg where he changed that day - and then they put a plaque up to remember him. You can see in there all the jockeys that have been in there.
“I've been coming here since 1973 and I remember when it was divided into one room for flat jockeys and one room for jump jockeys because there used to be a flat course across here without jumps.
“The flat jockeys used to change [clothes] on one side and the jump jockeys on the other. There was also the weighing area where the clark of the scales sat and every jockey had to weigh out in front of him on the old fashion avery scales.”
Open fireplaces which jockeys would have used to warm up after a race can still be seen inside McCoy’s to this day.
Dickon White, Aintree and North West regional director of the Jockey Club, told the ECHO: “When I first started McCoy's was the weighing room and the winner's enclosure area.
“So races would finish and the horse and jockey would ride back into that area. I remember my first Grand National was 1999 and it was a horse called Bobby Joe.
“It was trained by a gentleman called Tommy Carvery and his son Paul Carvery rode the winner. It was the first Irish winner for 25 years so it was very special that there was an Irish winner and it was a family win.
“I remember the horse came walking back into the winner's enclosure and if you look above you there's some wooden beams, and jockey reached up and swung on the beams as he came in. He was so elated, so excited.
“I must admit I was there at the time and I thought ‘oh blimey I hope that can hold his weight’ but it did. It was one of those very special moments that live with you forever.”
When jockeys like AP McCoy return to Aintree, Dickon said they’ll pop into McCoy’s bar as it brings back a lot of memories for them.
He added: “It's a very special place.”
