'Pete would have loved it' - legendary Liverpool street busker honoured with permanent tribute

A beloved busker who sadly died last year has been immortalised on the streets of Liverpool.

Peter Mickle, also known by his stage name P.M Rocky or Pete the Busker, was a local icon for two decades, known for performing with his plastic microphone outside Boots on Church Street and Asda in his hometown of Birkenhead.

After bringing smiles to the faces of many for years, Peter sadly passed away last August but he now has a permanent place on Church Street, immortalised on a plaque set into the pavement bearing an inscription with his name, hat and microphone.

The idea for the tribute came from photographer Adam Thompson, the man behind the Humans of Liverpool Instagram account. The plaque, which was devised by the Liverpool Council’s streetscene manager Kenny Brew, is the first in the city to pay tribute to a street performer.

The plaque was unveiled by Lord Mayor Cllr Mary Rasmussen, Peter’s sister Carol Casey and his niece Nina Casey this week, and Peter’s family said they were ‘extremely grateful to the city of Liverpool for honouring our Pete in this way’, adding that he ‘would have loved it’.

Lord Mayor, Cllr Mary Rasmussen said: “Pete brought such a lot of happiness to so many people and I think we don’t very often acknowledge things like that so it’s really nice and quite a unique thing for him to be honoured in this way. He’d been busking on that spot for years, he felt like a fixture there, and what was even more remarkable was he came over from the Wirral almost every day to do it.

“He didn’t necessarily have the best natural singing voice but that wasn’t what he was about, everyone just loved the entertainment. At the unveiling ceremony, Pete’s sister Carol was telling me he was actually supremely confident – he’d say, I’ve got the voice, I’ve got the looks, I’ve got everything! I love to think that was his mindset and his approach, and we all need a bit more of that.”