The Building and Its History

When you walk into Ruppys, you are entering much more than a new café.

For more than 170 years, 68 Argyle Street in Birkenhead, has been a place of craftsmanship, commerce, music, work and social life. Cabinet makers worked here in the nineteenth century. Pianos and gramophones were sold here in the twentieth. Generations later, people came here to work, meet—and dance.

Ruppys is the building’s newest chapter.

The earliest occupier we have traced is Francis Styan, a cabinet maker who operated from the premises during the 1850s.

At that time, furniture was created by skilled hands using traditional tools and carefully selected materials. The building was already a place where craftsmanship and commercial life came together.

That spirit of making something properly—with care, patience and skill—is one we continue at Ruppys today.

During the 1870s, the premises were occupied by Samuel William, a cabinet maker and upholsterer.

The building remained connected with furniture making, continuing a tradition of practical craftsmanship established decades earlier.

By the 1880s, William & Evans, cabinet makers working within Birkenhead’s furniture trade, were associated with 66–68 Argyle Street.

Across these early chapters, the building was not simply a shop. It was a working place where things were designed, repaired and made to last.

By the early 1930s, Ryalls & Jones were trading from 68 Argyle Street as retailers of pianos, gramophones and other musical goods.

Customers would have stepped through these doors to choose instruments, arrange piano tuning and repairs, and discover the latest ways of bringing music into their homes.

Long before Rupert’s filled the building with music and dancing, music was already part of its identity.

During the 1950s, the building entered another commercial chapter with Lloyd & Cross, a business connected with building and civil engineering.

Its use had changed again, but 68 Argyle Street remained part of Birkenhead’s working commercial centre.

By approximately 1971, the building appears to have contained two remarkably different working environments.

The upper floors were occupied by an accountancy practice connected with what would later become McEwan Wallace, while Eric O’Connor’s Rupert’s nightclub operated on the lower floors.

During the day, people came into the building for professional advice and business meetings. Later, music, conversation and dancing brought the floors below to life.

Accountants upstairs and a nightclub downstairs: it is one of the most fascinating chapters in the building’s history.

The name Rupert’s was apparently born from a wonderfully spontaneous conversation.

When Eric O’Connor was preparing the club’s licence application, his solicitor asked what the new venue would be called. A name had not yet been chosen.

The solicitor reportedly suggested Rupert, inspired by a newspaper comic of the period. The name could always be changed later, he explained—the immediate priority was submitting the licence application.

The name was never changed.

Rupert’s became part of Birkenhead’s nightlife and created memories that former customers and employees still share today. Although Ruperts Club Ltd was formally incorporated in October 1975, recollections indicate that the club had already been operating for several years.

Throughout parts of the 1970s and 1980s, the building appears to have continued its unusual dual life.

Rupert’s occupied the lower floors while accountants and other professional activities continued above. The same address accommodated business by day and entertainment by night.

This coexistence is supported by memories from people connected with the building, although the precise floor-by-floor arrangements are still being reconstructed.

By July 1993, McEwan Wallace Hewitt was unquestionably established at 68 Argyle Street.

The firm commissioned a substantial refurbishment of the building, administered by Ainsley Gommon Wood and undertaken by Porter Builders. 

As the building evolved, more of its former entertainment spaces were gradually adapted for professional use.

In 2001, planning permission formally recorded the change of use of the former nightclub accommodation into offices.

This marked the end of the building’s nightclub era and its transition into predominantly professional premises.

For the following two decades, McEwan Wallace occupied all of the building as offices for its accountancy and business-advisory practice. Numerous local businesses were also connected with the address through their professional relationship with the firm.

In 2024, the building began its latest transformation.

The upper floors were sensitively converted into new residential accommodation, while the ground floor was retained as a commercial space capable of welcoming the public once again.

The objective was not simply to replace one use with another. It was to give the building a viable future while respecting the many lives it had already lived.

When choosing a name for the café, we wanted to acknowledge the building’s past rather than erase it.

Ruppys is an affectionate nod to Rupert’s and to the generations of people who remember coming here. It carries that familiar name into a completely new chapter, enriched by Colombian food, coffee and hospitality.

Where cabinet makers once worked, where customers once selected pianos, where accountants advised local businesses and where generations danced at Rupert’s, people can gather once again.

This time, over Colombian coffee, freshly grilled arepas and conversation.

The history of a building does not exist only in directories, planning records and company documents. It also lives in photographs, objects and personal memories.

We are collecting contributions from former occupiers, employees, customers and local residents. Selected materials will be preserved in the Ruppys time capsule, creating a connection between the people who knew the building in the past and those who will experience it in the future.

If you remember Rupert’s, worked for McEwan Wallace or another former occupier, or have photographs connected with Argyle St we would love to hear from you.

Share Your Story

Every person who crosses the threshold becomes part of the building’s continuing story.

You may come for an arepa, a Colombian coffee, a meeting or a conversation with friends. While you are here, we invite you to look around and imagine all the hands that worked here, the music that played here and the lives that passed through these doors before you.

The building has always adapted, but it has never stopped bringing people together.

Welcome back to Argyle Street. Welcome to Ruppys.