'Tucked away' restaurant with 'renowned' Sunday Roasts and stunning views

A "tucked away" restaurant in Merseyside boasts stunning riverside views, "renowned" Sunday Roasts and a fascinating history. Looking out across the River Mersey towards Liverpool’s Brunswick Dock, you'll find The Refreshment Rooms on Bedford Road East in Rock Ferry.

The area is steeped in history, with the restaurant being located near The Royal Mersey Yacht Club, which has stood on its current site since 1901. The Refreshment Rooms was originally a place for ferry workers to rest and grab a drink between trips in the 1880s.

Decades later, the site was home to The Admiral pub, which was a "proper old fashioned boozer" known in the area for years. But over a decade ago, the site had been left derelict for years before new life was breathed into the historic venue.

It was business partners Ian Joyce and Alan Tuohey who took over the former derelict site in 2012 and have since seen it go from "strength to strength." As part of the Liverpool ECHO's How It Used To Be series, we spoke to Alan, 62, about the history of the popular venue and how The Refreshment Rooms were reborn over a decade ago.

Alan, from Oxton, told the ECHO: "In the late 1800s, it was The Refreshment Rooms for what was the ferry across Liverpool. There's four rooms now, one of them is a garden room extension, but one of the rooms is still called the "tea room" which is where ladies used to go down to have a cup of tea before they got on the ferry.

"There's lots of period photos of the site now dotted all around. It opened up as the Refreshment Rooms and for quite a long period of time in the 60s and 70s it was known as The Admiral.

"When we took it over, we reverted back to the original name. Because of its position, it really is like a destination place.

"It's sort of tucked away, it overlooks the river and there's only one way in and out really. So to create that destination feel we decided we'd really lock in on the history of the place."

Celebrating the site's long history, the venue also showcases original features from other past and present Merseyside institutions. Alan said the team wanted to maintain the "olde worlde" feel, but also incorporate "modern twists."

Alan said: "When we had a refurb, it had been derelict for about five or six years and there wasn't any electricity - we built it back up and tried where we could to keep it all local. There’s light fittings from the Adelphi, a chandelier from the Cunard building and also light fittings from Lewis’s in Liverpool.

"Also, the bar top came from the science lab at Wirral Grammar. It's got its own interesting feel and shape to the building - and people always comment on it.

"We have maintained that kind of olde worlde kind of feel, but we've incorporated modern twists. Everybody thought I was mad when I told people what we were doing because it is so out of the way.

"We've put a lot of hard work into it to get it where it is today. It's really grown from strength to strength."

Today, The Refreshment Rooms offers everything from its "renowned" Sunday Roasts to new afternoon teas and woodfired pizzas in the beer garden. Their garden room, which leads out to the beer garden, also hosts small weddings and the team grow fruit, vegetables and herbs on site, as well as using local produce as much as they can.

Alan said the business has come a long way since they took on the then derelict site over a decade ago. He said: "We've had people who mentioned they had been when it was The Admiral, but we've had an awful lot of people that have been with us since day one.

"People do comment that they didn't even know this was here, so we get new customers all the time too. We do get people from all over Liverpool, the whole of the Wirral, Cheshire way and we’re fortunate enough to have people who find us on Facebook and come to visit."

For Alan, one of the things he is most proud of in the business is the feedback from customers praising their hard-working staff members. He said: "‘The most common thing that people comment on is how friendly and helpful the staff are - and that does make me proud.

"It's a point of massive pride really, it genuinely is a success story. Having like everybody else been through covid and the recent cost of living crisis - none of those things help.

"We all know there's lots of pubs and restaurants closing down on a daily basis. And while it has been a struggle, we are pleased that we've come out of the other side."