Back in 2006, a quirky new Liverpool city centre venue got-off on the wrong foot when its special guest was a disgraced soap star on its official opening night.
The FAB Cafe's opening on September 28, 2006, saw former Eastenders star Lesley Grantham, who played Dirty Den in the BBC One soap, co-hosting the event. Only two years earlier, the actor had seen his role in the soap cut following a leaked video of him performing lewd acts into a webcam and allegations he had insulted co-stars.
The opening of the cafe on Hope Street saw long queues of people who had bought a ticket to the venue's opening night. The FAB cafe was part of a chain of retro inspired TV and movie theme bars of the same name, already popular in Manchester and Leeds.
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The bar was decorated with nostalgic memorabilia including a replica of a Dr Who Tardis and a Cyberman. Brightly coloured prints of classic sci-fi films and TV shows plastered the walls; there were also a selection of suitably retro arcade game cabinets for drinkers to enjoy.
In a review of the venue in the Liverpool Echo on October 12, 2006, it was compared unfavourably to its successful Manchester sister venue. Describing the newly opened bar, the reviewer said: "The people who decorated Fab Cafe have gone to loads of trouble but the result still looks like a student union bar. There's the easily-mopped floor; the utilitarian stairs and railings, and that shiny outdoor cafe furniture.
"The original bar has a few glass cabinets of old toys, but they've only been able to fill one here. It's even got a Teletubby in it! You can buy them in the shops
"The centrepiece to the whole bar is a Cyberman, which they've posed emerging from a cocoon net to a home-made Tardis (the Manchester branch has a Dalek someone's wired up to move). Dr Who aliens, or any baddie costumes from TV, are always a disappointment in real life, and the Cyberman just looks cheap.
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"Elsewhere there's a circle where some kind of rippling effect has been projected (there'll be a reason why) and silhouettes of an alien, the alien from Alien, the Doctor and Catwoman. The dance floor is done up like the room in Star Trek where they beam you up."
On the night of the opening itself, Leslie Grantham arrived at the venue in a Silver Spirit Rolls Royce. The Southport Reporter said at the time the actor came in to "deafening cries of support" before answering questions from the packed out audience.
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As someone who attended the opening night, including Grantham's question and answer session, I remember it being a rowdy and tough reception for the actor who had so recently been embroiled in an online sex scandal. A video of the night in question, which can be found on YouTube, confirms my memory of the ex-Eastender getting a rough ride from the audience.
While Grantham was partly there to promote his upcoming book, many of the rowdier members of the audience chanted "Dirty Den" over and over as he took to the stage while jeering and booing the actor throughout the evening. The former Eastender was then subject to a number of tongue-in-cheek questions about the scandal, which only two years earlier had filled the national papers, and his days on the soap.
After questions were opened to the audience, the actor gamely tried his best to answer questions such as: "What was it like working with Dean Gaffney?"
By the time he was asked why he stopped working on Eastenders, a weary Grantham snapped: "Because the scripts were s**t!" Perhaps a way of not only avoiding the real reason but also a result of the relentless mickey-taking by the audience.
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The audience became increasingly restless as Grantham spoke about his upcoming autobiography and book signing. But the answer to one last audience question was greeted with a cheer when asked as to whether he would ever go back to Eastenders, the actor replied: "No, I'd rather be in Emmerdale Farm."
Following his departure from Eastenders, Grantham continue to work in pantomime, theatre, TV and film. He even appeared back behind the bar of the Queen Vic in 2010 in an interview to mark the soap's 25th birthday.
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Sadly, the still popular actor died in 2018 after being treated for lung cancer. His co-star and long-time on-screen wife Anita Dobson described him as "a wonderful and special actor, witty and very talented. I shall remember him very fondly and with affection."
As for the FAB cafe, the retro-inspired venue only lasted a couple of years. Despite its rocky opening night, it went on to host numerous gigs and film festivals before closing its doors for good in 2009. The building was later taken over by Death Row Diner and is now a tapas bar.
Despite its short life in Liverpool, the FAB cafe is still fondly remembered by many, while two of the movie and TV themed bars are still open in Manchester and Leeds.
