Early Landfall Days 1969
It is in Liverpool way back in the heady
days of
the late sixties. The Beatles are at their height
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The redistribution of wealth that has happened
in Britain brings in its wake a substantial
increase of disposable income in the pockets
of the people of the city. To provide for
this new market, leisure activities mushroom
all over the city and these include nightclubs.
In those days, I've a business partner called
Ronnie Potter. We run an illuminated decorative
sign business named Novo Art Ltd, which specialises in a process, which I've
patented. We use fragments of broken glass
to create colourful products.
Through one of our business associates we
come across a converted ex-wartime Tank Landing Craft LCT 7074 mark lll known as The Clubship Landfall. We have recently expanded our activities
to include the supply of club furniture and
other clubland services. Our company specialises
in illuminated murals, which lend themselves
superbly to the dim interiors of clubs; consequently,
we are interested in seeing inside the Landfall.
A business contact, Mr John Coulter,
happens to be a member of The Merseyside Master Mariners Club, which owns the vessel, and he offers to
take us aboard one day for lunch. The atmosphere
and general décor of the place is very old
fashioned. It is redolent of one of those
posh London clubs, where old men in leather
armchairs fall asleep behind copies of The Times. The food leaves much to be desired, but
the staff are very professional and eager
to please. At the time of our visit in February
1969, Ronnie and I can see that the novelty
value of a floating club has a tremendous
commercial potential. If the Landfall is
given a face-lift and made accessable to
the public, it can be a real money-spinner.
The ageing membership does not encourage
new blood. The patrons of the establishment
are mostly connected with the shipping industry
in some way or other.
The certificated masters have dwindled to
a small band that only occassionally, briefly
visit the club to attend the Annual Dinner. In the main, the rest are a motley band
of shipping agents, painting contractors,
forwarding agents and the like. For the most
part, they are all decent gentlemen of the
old type. The club's slipping into a gentle
decline. It doesn't open at all in the evenings.
The Landfall has nestled quietly against
the old quayside at Canning Dock for the last 21 years. Nobody is aware of
her detailed history, it isn't known that
the ex-tank landing craft has seen active
service in seaborne assaults during the last
war.
I contact the Admiralty and get all the wartime
history of the craft. At the cessation of
hostilities it was presented as a gift by
a grateful Admiralty, to The Master Mariners
of Liverpool who had performed such heroic
deeds in the Battles of the Atlantic. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board willingly provided a berth.
On September the 20 1948, Admiral Sir Max K. Horton, in the company of Admiral Sir Percy Noble, The Lord Mayor of
Liverpool, The Earl of Derby and Viscount
Leverhulme, re-launched the most exclusive  club in Liverpool. After her extensive remodelling,
the rather plain warship had lost her unromantic
number and was renamed The Clubship Landfall. The Merseyside Master Mariners Club had
a membership of some 100 active or retired
ship's masters at the time. The venture had the full support
of The Merseyside Ship Owners Association and The Landfall was installed as a landmark
in Liverpool's maritime history.
Shortly after our visit, Ronnie and I started
negotiations with Mr. Michael Coventry of
the Merseyside Master Mariners Club, with
the intention of obtaining the catering concession
aboard the Clubship Landfall. The Master
Mariners are fighting desperately to keep
the club going, but are finding the increasing
overheads and administrative load too much.
 Following a complicated chain of circumstances
Ronnie and I are introduced to a city centre
businessman named Colin Peers. Colin is thirty-six
years old, having been born in Isleworth,
Middlesex in 1936. He's attended Acton Technical College where he passed his City & Guilds examination in Catering. After completing a valuable year's tuition
at the famous Ritz Hotel under its renowned chef Monsieur Avignon,
he serves his country in the Royal Air Force, becoming personal chef to the base chief.
After completing his military service, he
returns to the Ritz Hotel for a further year.
Then comes a period as chef in a smart country
club in Buckinghamshire, followed by a two
year stint as chef on an oil rig near Das Island, Trucial Oman States. Returning to the U. K., he meets Mr Roberts
of the successful north-west-catering group
'Robleys', eventually reaching the position of assistant manager at Liverpool's Airport Restaurant. I963 sees him with his own catering business
and a pretty Liverpool-born wife Dianne.
Colin owns an all night sandwich-bar cum
coffee stall known as The Hole in the Wall. in the downtown district of Liverpool His
main clientele were taxi drivers and other
denizens of the night, but more importantly,
Colin had the catering concession at a well-known
nightclub The Cabin. He'd all the hallmarks of an excellenhird
partner for the project, having the catering
ability and the expertise. Would he be interested
in joining as a third partner in the venture?
Colin came and gave the place a look over,
and said yes immediately.
Eventually agreement was reached between
the two parties, and our newly formed company
Compass Catering [which we registered on 15 July 1969], took
over the running of the Clubship Landfall
on 1 February 1968.
At that time our responsibility involved
the payment of running costs, including staff
remuneration, the berthage charges, electricity
costs, coal, (all heating was coal-fired
at that time), insurance etc. In return,
we were to receive the profits from the restaurants
and bars. The first major test of the catering
ability of the new company took place on
the occasion of the 20th Annual Dinner of
The Merseyside Master Mariners Club held
in March 1968. The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Dame Ethel Wormald, made a special mention of the high standard
of the cuisine in her after dinner speech,
and thus mainly due to the professional skill
of Chef Colin Peers the reputation of Compass Catering was established.
On 20 July 1968, the Clubship Landfall was
officially opened to the public as a nightclub.
We threw a Champagne Party for 200 guests
to launch the venture, at which many important
Liverpool people were present. Among the
points of agreement between the Master Mariners
and Compass Catering had been, that whilst
the Mariners retained exclusive access rights
to the Clubship at lunch-time, we caterers
could operate as a night-club in the evening.
Consequently, a 'Full Justices On License' was granted by the City of Liverpool Magistrates,
allowing us to remain open for the sale of
alcohol till 2a. m. in the morning. Bookings
for private functions began to flood in,
and the novel nautical surroundings caught
on with the folk of Liverpool. We were desperately
short of money during the initial setting
- up of the nightclub. There was a heavy
investment required on restaurants, bars,
and discothèques with illuminated dance floors
and general refurbishment
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