A Liverpool café that was once part of a huge chain in the city was a familiar sight for decades.
Standing on the corner of Parker Street and Leigh Street in the city centre, hundreds will remember the days of Reece's Ballroom, which became famous for hosting dances and events through the decades. The ballroom first opened in the summer of 1927 and had a café and restaurant over four floors, alongside a masonic 'temple', confectionery shop and lunch counter, the ECHO previously reported.
Throughout the 1960s, the ballroom hosted regular rhythm and blues nights and was also the place where John and Cynthia Lennon held their wedding reception in 1962. Remaining a popular dance and music venue up until the 1980s, Reece's Ballroom as we knew it later closed and the lower floors were converted for retail use.
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But many will remember the days when owners S. Reece & Sons Ltd, dating back to 1908, had Reeces restaurants, cake-shops and snack bars in Liverpool, and throughout Merseyside, Lancashire and Cheshire. A popular company in the city, the business also ran a dairy and bakery, with its cafe's being known for selling everything from crusty cobs to pork pies, diary cream fruit tarts, mince pies and more.
In the days before bakery chains like Greggs dominated high streets around the UK, Reece's was the place to visit for families, workers and shoppers across our city. Courtesy of our archive, Mirrorpix, rare photos that have been unseen for years of the Reeces brand have recently been unearthed.
On images, captured in January 1974, shows the exterior of a Reece's shop on Merseyside. In the window displays, Reece's' mince pies cost 4p and there were also cut price boxed chocolates on offer.
Another image captures the former premises of Reece's occupying a large city centre site at the rear of the Adelphi Hotel on Brownlow Hill in May 1983. This was their headquarters on Hawke Street where the dairy and bakery was located and many former employees will remember days working there, as well as businesses buying their products.
Do you remember Reece's in Liverpool? Let us know in the comments section below.
The Tower Restaurant was opened at the top of St Johns Beacon in 1971 and the ECHO previously spoke to ex-chef Derek Harrison, who remembered how the restaurant used to buy pre-made cakes from the local Liverpool bakery and serve them customers as authentic French desserts. Derek previously said: "There used to be a cake shop in Reece's (famous chain of Liverpool coffee shops).
"The cakes were made in Reece's Bakery at the back of the Adelphi. Their famous things were called rum babas (a classic French pastry dessert). They would sell them to us and we'd take their synthetic cream out and put fresh cream in and sell it in the restaurant on the sweet trolley for four times the price!"
In 1971, its milk delivery operation, one of the longest-established in Liverpool, was merged with another local family film, J Hanson & Sons, as part of Unigate. As the years went on, Reece's continued to expand.
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On November 29, 1973, the ECHO reported how 47 years on from the ballroom opening on Parker Street, a new self-service restaurant opened. Offering a wide range of dishes, in its early days it offered main meals ranging from 38p to 55p and had refrigerated displays, a hot servery counter and a snack bar.
But as the business headed further into the 70s, it saw more change. On February 22, 1974, the ECHO reported how there was "important news for Reece's regular customers," from Mr Graham Todd of Reece's and Mr John Sayer of Sayers.
The advert reads: "You've probably read in the papers that Reece's are closing some of their cake-shops. So if you’re a Reece's regular, you must be wondering where to go now for your favourite cakes, pies and breads.
"Try your nearest Reece's Rendezvous first! There are 25 rendezvous on Merseyside and they’re all open to serve you with Reece's tasty snacks and delicious confectionary. And what if you don’t shop near Reece's Rendezvous? Then try your nearest Sayers!
"It's not such a strange idea as it sounds – because Reece's and Sayers have come to a special arrangement which we’ve planned to make life easy as possible for Reece's customers. By this arrangement, Reece's have given Sayers some of their most popular recipes and these products are now coming on sale in Sayers shops and in Sayers agents’ shops, too.
"This means that Reece's Regulars can still but some of the cakes and pies they’re used to, and also get the chance to try Sayers famous breads, cakes, sdavouries, cheeses and cooked meats. But best of all, we believe that Reece's regulars will find at Sayers the same pleasant friendly service they expect from their favourite cake shop."
In the 1980s, there were further reports that more Reece's chains were being taken over by Sayers. It's now been years since Reece's businesses were dotted around the city, but some signs of the past can still be spotted. Here, you can see an old Reece's Rendezvous ghost sign at the former Silkhouse Court office block, now Dream Apartments. The former branch has also been home to a Sayers and ABS personal training.
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