How Tallulah’s got torn down

Inside the grandly turreted, former Barclay’s building on the corner of Rowson Street and Victoria Road in New Brighton, Tallulah’s Emporium is getting dismembered. Gone are the vintage bar stools and famed record player; torn down are the vintage plum curtains and ornately framed print of Boucher’s Daphnis and Chloe on the wall. Instead, a man in a bright orange baseball cap — in time to a very un-Tallulah’s kickdrum beat — thrusts his groin towards the bar, which the demolition crew and a few hangers on are emptying of its ale. 

To put it one way, Tallulah’s is getting fucked. 

This is the wake, such as it is, for Vicky Road’s most idiosyncratic space: an impromptu party called by the bar’s landlord, who hours earlier changed the locks, called in the troops and began the gutting. I’m able to view it days later, when footage of the strange and depressing-looking soirée begins to be shared by those who care about the venue, which has been operating here since 2023.

In response, Tallulah’s Facebook account drops a sorrowful message:

​“It is with an incredibly heavy heart that we share some devastating news,” the post, published on 30th June, reads. “After three long, exhausting years of tireless negotiations with our landlord, we have been unable to reach an agreement to keep our doors open.”

“This decision was entirely out of our hands,” they continued. “Despite us holding a legal charge against the building for a personal debt he owes us, the landlord has made the choice to evict us, completely disregarding the blood, sweat, and tears we have poured into building this beautiful space.”

The responses beneath the post are almost uniformly sympathetic, with customers lamenting the loss of “a breath of fresh air for the area” and “the family” regulars have built there. Some take up the original post’s invocation of “greed” and rail against their cruel landlord – none other than New Brighton stalwart and Rock Point Leisure Ltd founder, Dan Davies.

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