The ECHO was given an exclusive tour of the famous site
The ECHO was given an exclusive tour of the famous site
When you think back to iconic Liverpool venues loved in the city through time, The Grafton Ballroom will no doubt come to mind. First opening in 1924 as a dance hall, The Grafton, located on West Derby Road next to the Liverpool Olympia, has lived many lives.
During WWII, the venue was packed every night with war workers, soldiers on leave and American GIs who at the time were stationed around Merseyside. Through the decades, famous faces also passed through its doors, with acts like The Beatles and Duke Ellington performing there.
But growing up, the tales I heard from The Grafton more so surrounded its infamous “grab a granny” Thursday nights and the days it served the likes of chicken in a basket. My mum and dad spent many a night there in the 80s and all they have to do is spot a photo of the venue on social media to be transported back in time, reading hundreds and hundreds of memories from across the generations.
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I’m sadly not old enough to have gone there in its glory days. But if you were to ask me what legendary, Liverpool venue from the past I would have loved to spend a night in, The Grafton would definitely be at the top of the list.
It was back in the 1990s that the late Panayiotis Zorba bought the famous Grafton and the Liverpool Olympia next door. His son, Chris Zorba, now 52, moved to Liverpool around 1994, joining the family businesses.
For a short while in 2008, the historic building was used as a comedy club, before closing down permanently. But now, major renovation plans for the venue have been approved by heritage experts.
Last month, the city council’s planning committee tentatively gave the go-ahead to recommend 90 apartments in a six storey development. In the plans, The Grafton’s façade will be retained.
It’s now been well over a decade since The Grafton closed its doors and we took a look inside the famous building. But this week, the ECHO were given a rare, tour inside The Grafton before the site begins its next chapter.
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The Grafton has been vacant and derelict for some time but is still instantly recognisable. I’ve seen dozens of photos of the site through time, so it was exciting to go in there for the first time and stand on the dancefloor by the VIP bar – and special to be among the last to see it in this phase of its life.
Carefully walking through the building, it’s easy to imagine the venue as it was years ago, packed with clubbers from across the city. So many memorable features of the club remain, from its red décor to signs for the Viceroy Suite and Manhattan Disco rooms, the cloakroom, the DJ booths, old TVs, the stage and the venue’s large dance floor standing eerily empty.
At the DJ booth inside the Manhattan Disco area, you’ll find an old CD still in its case – likely one of the last played at the venue. On the side is a train ticket from November 2011, left behind by one of the only few people to have visited The Grafton in recent years.
Incredible photos, captured by Liverpool ECHO photographer Colin Lane, and footage, by ECHO videographer Alice Walker, offer a glimpse inside the building as it looks today. They are bound to stir some memories for former clubbers and customers through time.
Inside The Grafton, owner Chris Zorba, originally from London, told the ECHO: “It opened in 1924 and there’s loads of photos of it during the war. All the GI’s used to come here. It never even shut during the war but next door, The Olympia did.
“That became an ammunitions site. But The Grafton never closed, all the way through the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s. My dad bought The Grafton in April 1990.
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“He bought this and The Olympia next door, the Locarno as it was called, off Mecca Leisure. My first impression, coming from London, I was shocked.
“It was just a crazy, one-off place where you had grannies here, people from 18 to 80 in the same place all enjoying themselves. Whenever anybody asks you or finds out that you owned it everybody says they have been there, or their parents have been there or they met there or their grandparents met in there. It has been part of Liverpool’s history.”
While city councillors warmly welcomed proposals to redevelop the site, the plans were briefly put on hold after officials omitted any consultation with Historic England from their report.
The heritage body has now confirmed it will back the plans for the site, next to the Grade II listed Olympia. Officials acknowledged how the site has been vacant for more than 15 years and presents a health and safety hazard in its current state, described as “an eyesore.”
Agent Brad Wiseman previously told the committee how regeneration of the location would provide “the investment that is desperately needed to transform the site, give it a new identity and deliver new affordable homes for city’s residents.” Mr Wiseman said the development would only be made possible by the receipt of grant funding from Homes England.
The ECHO previously reported how there are hopes initial work – subject to Historic England approval – could start quickly but major transformative options would not begin until Homes England cash had been received. One photo shows how The Grafton could look as flats.
Chris said: “We tried our best to keep it going, there’s not many nightclubs left in the whole country. Maybe if covid hadn’t have come and things like that – I had plans of reopening it in a different guise.
“I think what’s going to happen with it now is a good thing. The memory of it will be kept because the façade is going to be kept and there’s going to be social housing, affordable housing for people, so I think it kind of keeps with the vibe of what The Grafton was – it was a place of the people.
“It’s sad for it to go but it’s better than it sitting here, derelict. It will be a new chapter, a new chapter for the area.
“If anyone has seen the plans, it looks unbelievable. It will just completely regenerate the whole area.
“Next door, the Olympia, I think it carries on the fact that it was an entertainment complex, when the two of them were side by side for all those years. It was a hub in Liverpool for entertainment – The Beatles played in both places – so there’s all kinds.”
