All right stop! Collaborate and listen.

How life returned to Bebington Village

A few years back, even before the dark times of lockdown, Bebington Village was little more than a ghost town of estate agents, charity shops and empty storefronts.

From my childhood, it had been a lovely little road full of greengrocers, butchers, bakers, sweet shops, toy shops, card shops, video stores, hairdressers, clothes shops, small supermarkets, cafes, and more.

With progress and the march of capitalism, various shops had disappeared as the larger supermarkets opened on business estates. The greengrocers, bakers and butchers vanished as they did from so many high streets. The small supermarket stayed although the name changed a lot - Lennons, Gateway, Somerfield, the Co-Op and probably more that I am forgetting. That meant workers from the local businesses that surrounded Bebington Village, including the Town Hall and other council offices still headed there to get food, newspapers and so on.

Then Wirral Council decided to close the Town Hall along with many other offices around the Wirral and move the workers to a new building in Birkenhead that they had spent millions of pounds renovating even though they were only renting it for a huge amount of money each month. I still don’t understand the financial sense of leaving buildings that they owned (some of which they decided to demolish rather than rent out as offices for small local businesses). It never seems to make sense, but I digress.

These closures meant that the hundreds of people who worked in the Town Hall and other offices were no longer there to use the shops in Bebington Village, and in other places. This meant that many of the local businesses lost a huge chunk of their customers and ended up having to close down. A great way to support local business from Wirral Council, I am sure you will agree.

The supermarket closing down could have been the final nail in the coffin.

That led to the influx of Estate Agents and Charity shops. Of course, there were other shops - hairdressers, nail salons, mortgage advisors and the like - but they often changed names or closed down. There were some stalwart holdouts such as Pinks, a card shop that made it through so much, but ended up having to close down last year. We will return to that in a moment. All were places you would travel to for that particular purpose and nothing there would make you want to just wander around the shops.

Yet Bebington Village refused to bow down and give up. Brighter Bebington kept putting up the Christmas decorations each year. Brave individuals decided to give small businesses a go.

The Little Gift House brought more options for…you guessed it…gifts. Amor Cafe and Bistro renovated and improved on what had gone before, making it a great place for breakfast and lunch.

Pinks, Boots, Sunlight Restaurant, Secrets@No7, the Shoe Repair shop and others kept on going, while the fish and chip shop just changed its name every few years. Let us not mention The Chronicle as that was a silly place! There were still Estate Agents and Charity shops, but they no longer seemed all consuming on the high street.

Things kept ticking over and there was a sense of possibilities.

Some of my friends discussed maybe opening a board game shop or a micropub, but work and life got in the way.

I kept thinking how both of those things would be great to have in walking distance as I do like board games and beer. Yet, I never thought Bebington Village would ever have anything like that, plus we had the Rose & Crown pub which was always a great place to go for a pint.

Then something strange happened. Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma. It seemed I was either manifesting things that I wanted or life really is a simulation like The Matrix and it was changing things to keep me here.

First, the unit that had held the supermarket through the years, was renovated and split into three. Not ideal, but Londis opened a store that meant there was some place to pick up groceries. Bear Hunt Books and Toys opened. A bookshop focused on children’s books that my daughter would love. I do wish it sold a wider range of books, but it did bring people in.

A couple of years back, my friend Rich mentioned that a board game shop was going to open. That seemed brilliant, but utterly ridiculous. A board game shop in Bebington Village? It was perfect for us, but did not seem real. We waited with bated breath, dice clutched tightly in our hands, following any rumour about this possibility.

But it was real. Bulwark Games was born from two friends, Chris and Ross, who wanted to bring their love of board games to Bebington. They absolutely smashed it.

A fantastic place to play board games, card games, paint miniatures, embark on adventures in roleplaying games (RPGs), drink great coffee and shoot the breeze with your peers. Turns out there is a huge gaming community in Bebington and beyond and I have made some brilliant friends from the opening of this one store.

To be honest, playing RPGs and board games with my friends has kept me going through some dark times so having Bulwarks open has been amazing. I cannot wait until I can take my daughter there. She will love it.

The only way things could have got any better was if there was a place to buy amazing beer.

Guess what?

A great bloke by the name of Ian thought that very same thing.

It followed a similar pattern to Bulwarks. One of my friends said they had heard a rumour that a bottle shop was opening in Bebington Village. We all went “that would be great, but I doubt it.”

We were wrong again.

Prost! was born.

An independent bottle shop specialising in German beer and the best craft beers from the UK, Europe, US and beyond.

Looking over the shelves each time I visit always leaves me feeling spoilt for choice. I have yet to get a beer from there that I did not like…or at least find interesting!.

Both Bulwarks and Prost! have done incredibly well in such a short space of time and have brought many people back to Bebington Village.

Pop down to play a board game and then pick up a few beers for the evening.

The cycle of a rumoured shop, disbelief and eventual reveal continued with Nikko Sushi. My brother treated us to a meal there the other evening. The food is incredible. Prepared fresh. Beautiful to look at and delicious. Plus they deliver and it has been wonderful seeing their gorgeous food brought into Bulwarks.

This cross-pollination shows the Village coming back to life.

All it needed was a cool little micro-pub.

The pattern began again and, before we knew it, from the ashes of Pink (which sadly had to close) arose The Collaboration - now you see how the title for this piece ties in.

This saw James and Isla from the Rose & Crown joining forces with Ian and Megan from Prost! to….wait for it…collaborate on the new pub.

Excitement built with each update even when we could not see through the windows. It was tinged with sadness at the thought that our good friend, Del, would not be able to visit with us for a pint.

Before we knew it, The Collaboration opened its doors. I walked down with my friends Jamie and Beth (then joined by Rich a little later) for the opening and we sampled a few of the beers on offer. Tegernseer Hell, the German lager poured from the UK's first Tegernsee beer font was a taste sensation as were the other ones we tried - 8 kegs, 4 casks and a fridge full of cans and bottles means there is always something new.

We headed back for the evening session of D&D all nicely relaxed and loving the fact that we had a new place to raise a glass together.

I have since returned a couple more times with my parents and brother then Rich and Kath. Each time has been lovely. Each time has been packed out. It is only a small venue, but everyone is happy to be there. The small tables mean you chat to those around you, talk about which beer you have sampled, what you may try next and the names of the different dogs that pop up around your legs!

That is one of the beautiful things about a good pub. They bring people together. They build a community. I was already lucky enough to have the Rose & Crown, and then Bulwarks to help build that gaming community, but to now have The Collaboration just down the road.

All of these new places will help all the others. Thank you to everyone involved in these endeavours and those who will give it a go in the future.

We keep discussing what we would like to see open next. A deli, a wine bar, a comic shop something else. Who knows, but I look forward to that rumour popping up and the same pattern of doubt and then delight as we find out.

How lucky is Bebington Village and the people who live around it? What once was a place you simply walked through is returning to a place you head for.

If I see you down there let’s have a pint, play a game or grab some sushi.

Be seeing you.