Popular British pub calls time after a decade in Malaga city centre

The Shakespeare pub in Malaga city has closed its doors. The popular haunt among locals and foreigners alike and named after the English Baird closed just ahead of what would have been its tenth anniversary.

The closure of the establishment located on Calle Muro de Puerta Nueva has left a legion of Malaga's Spanish and foreign residents bereft of a meeting point.

The English pub opened its doors in mid-2015 and was run by Peter Edgerton, a musician from Liverpool who decided to set up his own business in the city centre. The beginnings, however, were not easy. A lack of financial resources forced him to set up in a side street in the centre which had few passers-by.

"When we opened we were the only premises open in the whole street," Peter recalls. It was so complicated that after a year he considered closing down. "I gave myself six more months and then we were up and running," he says.

Peter explains that there were several factors that encouraged this change: the opening of a business opposite which gave more life to the street, taking on another member of staff and the launch of a pub quiz that was popular to the end.

From that first moment The Shakespeare was committed to cultural activities. It hosted live music, photography, ceramics and painting exhibitions and even informal science talks ('Pint of Science'). "I'm proud of the cultural offer we have given the city for many years," Peter reflects.

The pub was forced to close because the contract expired and the owner decided not to renew it. But Peter remembers the "wonderful customers" he says he had for so many years. "We created a community of Malagueños and foreigners living in the city, since only 20 percent of the visitors were tourists," he sums up. "What memory would I like to leave? That it has been a small refuge in the centre."

Now Peter plans to resume his love of music and continue writing stories, his other passion. He has not considered - at least for the moment - reopening the pub in another location because this would require a major investment that he says he can't afford. "The Shakespeare was the activity I did for the most years and it has come to an end," he concludes.

Peter's connection with Malaga is entirely coincidental. He arrived in the city with the intention of spending just one night there after a trip around Europe and never left again. That night, back in 1995, he went for a drink at the old O'Neill's pub and met three girls who were looking for a man to share a flat with them because they were afraid of a neighbour. Peter obliged.

What was meant to be a temporary stay of a few weeks was extended because O'Neill's hired him as a musician. He then got another job at Morrissey's and decided that Malaga was where he belonged. "If I hadn't gone to the pub that night and stayed in the guesthouse, I would have gone back to Manchester and my life would have been completely different," he reflected.