Lost Pier Head bus station where nans bought the 'best ever doughnuts'

Many generations across the city remember spending days at the now lost Pier Head bus station eating the "best ever doughnuts."

The ECHO recently took a look back at the old terminal on the waterfront, sharing rare images of what life was like there in its latter days. Costing £675,000, Liverpool's bus terminal at the Pier Head first opened back in 1965, but by the 1990s, the ECHO reported how Merseybus would "stop using the Pier Head terminus as part of a sweeping revamp of the network," with the site later being demolished.

Welcoming many commuters over the years, generations will remember the smell of food wafting from the café, or sitting and watching the ferries there too. But historian and photographer John Harrison, who photographed the site in the 80s and 90s, was there to capture the last days of the bus station, from what it looked like at the time to people and its demolition.

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ECHO readers have since been sharing their memories of the Pier Head's former bus station in response to John's rare photographs. On our Facebook page, Norma Kelly said: "My dad delivered milk to the Pier Head and St John's Lane depots in the mid-70s, as well as the Shakespeare and Lord Nelson hotels. I used to get up early on a Sunday morning to go with him and I remember getting bacon butties from the bus depots and R Whites pop from the hotels. After we'd finished the milk round we'd go and sit up by the Anglican Cathedral and enjoy our spoils. Fond memories!."

Joan Owen said: "Oh God those truly were the days!!! Lost its soul when those places went. I remember going the café after a night at the Babalou Club - hot soup - bliss!!!." Sandra Dillon posted: "Boss memory this, I used to get the first bus home after night out me and Julie eating a bacon butty."

Ste Hughes said: "Cafe was called the COFFEE CART ( BEST BACON BUTTYS EVER ! )." Karen Manion posted: "Used to love going there."

Elizabeth Stanbrook posted: "Loved the bacon butties there." John Payne commented: "Chip butty and a cup of soup."

What are your memories of the Pier Head in the 80s? Let us know in the comments section below.

Peter Williams posted: "Brilliant loved going Pier Head for a bus." Linda Sheils commented: "George and I used to go there while we were waiting for the 57 for me to get home. Doughnuts were lovely, saved mine to have on the bus and help George eat his haha good days."

Julie Billington said: "OMG the Donuts were the best ever. I can taste and smell them now." Ged Hughes said: "That bag of hot ring doughnuts coated in sugar was delicious."

Audrey Cowpland commented: "As a teenager used to walk to the pier head to get the bus home and buy doughnuts, they where always nice." Dot Hollingworth commented: "Used to love those doughnuts."

Tony Pulford said: "Couldn't get the ferry home via Seacombe without a bag of doughnuts!." On the ECHO's website, Jhong wrote: "Great memories after being taken to town by my mum, and then go to the Pier Head to catch the bus home. We’d get doughnuts before getting on the 9A bus home."

scouse24 wrote: "Would go there every weekend with my dad when I was a kid. We’d get the ferry then watch the buses coming and going whilst eating chips." carlo1878 said: "Great place, happy times. Before the PC days. Great fry ups, nice smell of ciggies."

realistkk posted: "I worked in the Liver Building and the Cunard Building from 1977 to 1990. Great memories of the bus station and also the overhead walkway over The Strand, which was, sadly, also demolished. The good old days." j r hartley said: "The days of the 85p Saverway's that got you on the buses, trains and ferries all day before the travel companies we're looking to rip us off."

I think said: "A doughnut was a treat off my nan when we travelled from her house in Kirkby, I think the number 500, about 1975, they were the best doughnuts ever and oh yeah the smell I remember going the Berni in too, prawn cocktail, steak and black forest gateau."

icredpeeple posted: "A cup of thick and bacon butty.. thick was the soup but I can't remember what it was cause it burnt your mouth so bad lol !." And sirtommurphy posted: "Spent many a happy night there after going to the Rumfords Coachhouse or Scarlett's bar and many other clubs."

John, from Aigburth, recently told the ECHO: "There used to be a building there that used to be like a canteen, it was there for ages and ages. I'd go in and have a cuppa myself and then photograph around.

"I'd photograph the people who worked there, parts of the Pier Head, some bits which went in the 1990s. In the 1980s, when the bus terminus was still in use, it was great.

"They had the café there, people could go and sit on the roof and look out at the ships. Sandy would be there, this bloke who used to sell the ECHO - he was very well known in Liverpool. He’d be round the Pier Head all the time.

"If you came out of a nightclub in the early hours of the morning, everyone would head to the Pier Head for bacon butties and get the first bus home. Everyone in Liverpool did that. Those where the days when clubs would finish at 2am, but some would finish at 4am and it would be a walk down to the Pier Head.

"The café wouldn't be open, but the kiosk was, so you'd have a bacon butty and a cup of coffee or tea and just hang around there with your mates. People still talk about it, people of a certain age still remember it.

"They'd get the buses from wherever they lived and it would stop at the Pier Head. They could either go on the ferries or sit on the top of the balcony and watch the ships all day - that happened quite a lot.

"There was a Berni Inn there too back then so people would go there. A lot of people would sit in the café most of the day." John's rare photos of the latter days of the station, recently shared to John's Liverpool Local History Group on Facebook, have prompted many to share their memories of the lost terminal.

From the smell of doughnuts or chips in the air to watching the ferries and more, the bus station saw generations come onto the site. In the images, you can see arguably the final days of the station.

You can also see part of the demolition in the 1990s. To younger generations, the Pier Head as seen here, will be unrecognisable.

John said: "I started this project, photographing the Pier Head in the early 1980s and I just kept doing it on and off through the years until the 1990s. I wanted to photograph people rather than buildings.

"Although, I captured a lot of the buildings which have now gone, especially around where Mann Island is. Once it closed down, once the buses left, it was ready for demolition so I thought I'd capture it just before it closed."

You can see more of John's historic photographs shared with John's Liverpool Local History Group here. You can also contact John via his Facebook group to find out more about his history of Liverpool talks.

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