Meet the ex-porn star with fascist tattoos who doesn’t pay his bar staff

For the DJ and poet PJ Smith – better known by his stage name, Roy – it was just another gig, spinning records at L’Aperitivo last summer. That was until a slight, tattooed man with a long brown beard and Mancunian accent approached him.

“Great tunes,” Roy remembers the man saying, preceding a brief chat about music. Then, out of nowhere: “I’m an ex-porn star.”

This unprompted boast was Roy’s introduction to Stephen Charlesworth, the manager of Sotto, an underground bar on Wood Street. Despite the peculiar introduction, which Roy chalked up to a “weird flex”, he accepted Charlesworth’s offer of a DJ gig. Both men expressed an interest in making it a monthly residency.

When Roy arrived at Sotto for his first show, however, something was off.

“Setting up was a bit odd,” Roy says. For a start, the staff didn’t seem to know he was coming. “And straight away, I’m like: this place is a hazard. There was water leaking from over near the stage.”

But Roy fulfilled his commitment, and invoiced Charlesworth the following day for £100. That’s when the real trouble began. Months and many fraught message exchanges later, he still hasn’t been paid.

The Dead King Company, a local band, had a similar experience. They put on an event at Sotto in late November, even booking support acts. As promoter, the Dead King Company agreed to 15% of bar takings, out of which they would pay the other bands themselves.

The night after the gig, Nathan, the Dead King Company’s bandleader, messaged Sotto: “Nice one for last night. Everyone had a scream.”

“U need to do it as a monthly thing,” came the genial reply. “Think we did £970. So that works out about £150.”

Weeks went by. Then a month. In January, Nathan sent a series of unanswered messages. Eventually, the venue account replied, explaining that Charlesworth had been away. (“It’s not a massive amount,” Nathan was told.)

But things turned sour when the support act the Dead Kings had booked took to Facebook to criticise Sotto for non-payment. This was apparently the excuse the venue needed to stiff them.

“If [they] carry on with there bollox [sic] it jeopardises your payment”, Sotto informed the Dead King Company.

“So they're saying they're not paying us because of bands complaining that they haven't paid us,” Nathan tells me. “It’s like getting arrested for resisting arrest.”

To date, the band remains unpaid.

The Post has now spoken to several musicians with similar stories. One band, Hearse, only received £16.50 after a gig – and they had to fight even for that.

After Roy posted about his unpaid invoice on X late last year, he was contacted by others with similar experiences, including employees of the University of Liverpool who claimed their students had worked for Sotto and were owed hundreds of pounds. And these weren’t musicians – they were bar staff.

The Post has also spoken to nearly a dozen former employees about pay and conditions at Sotto and its sister venue, The Park. (One bartender at the latter establishment, Kadie, is attempting to take Charlesworth to the small claims court over £732 he owes her.) The picture that’s emerged is of a socially contentious, and physically unclean, working environment, with allegations and insinuations running rampant.

“I soon realised it was in bits,” Alex Young, who worked as bar staff at Sotto, tells me about the bar’s hygiene. On one of his first shifts, Alex was informed there was no glass washer, nor detergent or rinse aid – the glasses were just cleaned with hot water. He also alleges there was no cellar for the beer casks, and that lines were improperly cleaned. “I’ve been a bartender for ten years,” Alex says, “and I’ve never seen anything like it.” On top of that, “the toilets hardly ever worked, and it just stank all the time.”

Alex says he is still owed £564 in unpaid wages, while his former colleague Will Taylor says £1,300 is outstanding to him and £700 to his band, Maggie Witch.

“Another thing as well,” Alex says, “The icing on the absolute cake. Ste has this tattoo on his neck…” Five arrows bound in the middle by a yoke.

“It’s a fascist symbol,” says David Jones, an online content creator and host for live events who claims Charlesworth owes him £300. “A Falangist tattoo.” His degree in progress in Modern Languages involves a dissertation on fascism. “So I’m quite an expert.” (Incidentally, David also tells me Charlesworth introduced himself as a former porn star.)

Charlesworth, for his part, has downplayed the tattoo’s fascist significance. He’s previously addressed concerns about it on his Instagram, claiming that he has “2 mixed race kids” and has dated “most races”, perhaps implying this precludes him from having far-right views.

So who really is Stephen Charlesworth, and how is it that a Mancunian (who, we’ve been told, was essentially “chased out” of Manchester) came to own and operate around a dozen bars in Liverpool and Wigan despite widespread allegations of serving underage drinkers, failing to pay musicians and staff what they’re owed, and being an unpleasant and disconcerting person?

After speaking to Alex, I head over to Wood Street in person to find out.

Charlesworth, 56, from Salford in Greater Manchester, moved to Liverpool in 2017. He is an experienced bar owner — Brad Parfitt, his business partner, described him in August last year as “an exceptional operator”. He also has an aesthetic all his own. His social media activity – when he isn’t promoting his venues or publicly arguing with bands asking for payment, that is – is frequently sordid, such as a recent Valentine’s Day post of two fingers wrapped in a red bow with the caption “Bring yer towel”. A memory he recently shared to Facebook included him bragging about hiring a “busty barmaid”. He’s also posted a picture of a toilet wall in Sotto graffitied with “live laugh labia”.

Before Sotto, Charlesworth also ran Liverpool Party Pads on Walton Road, a private event venue with a seedy vibe and reputation. In 2020, councillors for the Kirkdale ward canvassed residents to log incidents of antisocial behaviour. The year before, the venue had landed Charlesworth in legal hot water. After being prosecuted by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority for “flagrantly breaching” fire safety regulations, Charlesworth pled guilty to failing to comply with a prohibition notice on six occasions. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and fined £20,000. He was also ordered to pay £26,000 in costs, and to complete 180 hours of community service. Despite this, he was able to continue owning and operating bars, including Sotto.

When I arrive at Sotto on a late Friday afternoon, there’s a band of young musicians waiting outside. I recognise Stephen Charlesworth in a baseball cap, busying himself carrying equipment between Sotto and the Wood Street Bar next door, another of his venues. Descending into the venue early evening, I can tell there’s a definite odour, but that could just be the fact it’s literally underground and therefore poorly ventilated. Though I wasn’t able to confirm their ages, several of the clientele look very young to me.

I elect not to buy a beer, remembering what Will told me about Charlesworth. “He’d keep juice bottles and beers that were months and months out of date,” Will said. “One day, I refused to serve a customer a beer that was out of date. I got rid of all the stock that could not be sold anymore.”

When Charlesworth found out he had more such bottles at the Spellow – a popular Everton matchday venue he also operated – “He opened it, took a picture of him drinking, and said, ‘Look, still drinkable!’”

A spirit is also out of the question. “The alcohol there is completely disgusting,” says a female bartender who wishes to remain anonymous, speaking to The Post under the pseudonym Jenny. She alleges that Charlesworth would keep an empty bottle of Absolut and keep refilling it with cheaper brand vodka, “as well as telling us to strain flies out of the vodka instead of replacing bottles.”

Jenny says she was hired at £12 an hour. She would do shifts from 12am to 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, and on weekdays work 6pm-12am. For all the shifts she worked on this schedule from October to November, she says was only paid £90 in total.

Jenny and Alex both allege there was a culture of not IDing customers at Sotto. A customer, Sophie, tells me she regularly drank in Sotto under the age of 18, and she has friends as young as 14 who drank there. One of her friends had her 15^th birthday at Sotto, and she says Charlesworth bought her a bottle of Prosecco.

While at Sotto, I’m able to see Charlesworth’s aforementioned tattoo in person. It’s conceivable he received it in Madrid without realising its contemporary significance. But while one fascist tattoo may be regarded as carelessness, two seem pretty deliberate. On the inside of his left arm Charlesworth has more body art, depicting a bundle of wooden rods, with an axe head emerging from the centre. This symbol is known as the fasces – literally the Italian term from which the word “fascist” derives. In an Instagram post from May, Charlesworth posted a picture of his yoke and arrows ink accompanied by Falangist – Spanish fascist – marching music.

At the end of December, Charlesworth boasted of his hospitality empire. He posted to Instagram “we still managed to keep 11 venues going” despite bad trade and staffing issues: this includes Sotto, The Park, the Wood Street Bar, the Spellow, and more. These venues are all owned by Bee Social, an organisation he co-founded with Bradd Parfitt, a 25-year-old entrepreneur from Wigan. According to their website, together the pair also run the Goodison Café, as well as several venues in Wigan. In 2025, Charlesworth posted his ambition is for them to reach 20 bars and pubs in all.

The Post contacted Stephen Charlesworth with all the allegations detailed in this story, which he says nearly caused him to fall off his chair. He claims to have been out of the country in Madrid for much of the time when Sotto was in disarray, receiving radio therapy and surgery for a serious illness. He makes misconduct accusations against Alex and Will but doesn’t address their allegations of unpaid wages. As for Jenny, he says he “was not there and didn’t employ anyone”.

David Jones? “Carried on turning up to cover nights when he was told he was not needed yet carried on invoicing us for the jobs”. He denies having ever employed Kadie. And the artists?

“Roy offered to do a monthly slot for £100 a month,” Charlesworth tells The Post. “Then cancelled after his first slot that despite his expectation to bring a big crowd in brought no one at all. Again I wasn’t there as I was in Madrid”. He does not address the fact Roy has still not been paid that £100, which he admits was agreed to.

Dead King Company? “Again [they] were a promotor who failed to pay there [sic] support who then posted all over the internet we had not paid them when in fact it was dead king who had booked them”. Once again, he does not address the fact £150 was agreed to in writing. As for Hearse band, he is adamant the £16.50 they were paid did in fact represent 15% of bar takings.

When it comes to allegations of Sotto’s griminess, Charlesworth says that as far as he is aware, the beer lines at Sotto are cleaned every three weeks. He adds that beer doesn’t have a sell-by date, just a best-before date. (The claim that he refills an Absolut-branded bottle with cheaper vodka and instructs staff to strain dead flies out of the alcohol is not contested, except to quibble over the type of dispenser used.) Regarding allegations of underage drinkers: “The staff ID everyone”, he claims, including the 15-year-old Charlesworth bought alcohol for, who he says was found by another member of staff to be 18.

Charlesworth also addresses his alleged fascist sympathies. “I am personally pro Israel,” he says, and claims that he also has a big Star of David tattoo on his arm. He repeats that he has mixed race children.

“The yoke and arrows and the Italian fasces both represent strength together”, he says, stressing their historic origins. “I am a Labour Party member”.

While putting the finishing touches on this article, I’m contacted by Bradd Parfitt, Stephen’s co-founder of Bee Social. A young, energetic businessman who speaks with a Lancashire twang, Bradd is sorry to confirm the beer lines and storage at Sotto under Stephen’s management was inadequate, as well as the general hygiene of the bar. He is unable to address most other concerns because he says Stephen Charlesworth had sole responsibility for Sotto, The Park, Wood Street Bar, and the Spellow until a few weeks ago. Due to an ongoing licensing review – Sotto is currently facing a Liverpool City Council probe over issues relating to alleged “crime and disorder” – Bee Social have decided not to proceed with Stephen’s partnership. Despite the fact I saw Charlesworth working at Sotto on the 7th February, Bradd is keen to stress all bars are now under new ownership – his – and fresh management. (Charlesworth also tells me he now has no connection to Sotto whatsoever.)

“The team that we’ve brought in is absolutely amazing,” Bradd tells me. “I can’t wait to get these bars back to where they should be and help support hospitality in Liverpool.”

Will he be making good wages unpaid under the previous administration?

“One hundred percent,” Bradd tells me, although then his voice wavers a little: “I’m willing, personally, and this is just off my own back, from a reputation standpoint, to try and work with any former employees to help come to a solution with Stephen in regards to wages.”

Although Bradd has not personally watched Stephen’s thespian endeavours – “to each his own,” he says – he can confirm Stephen’s claims to be a former porn star.

As to Stephen’s apparently far-right body art: “To each his own,” Bradd says again. He himself is neither political nor an expert on Spanish or Italian fascism. If someone was racist, that is something Bee Social could not support, he says. But would it be a problem, theoretically, for a manager of one of Bradd’s venues to have these tattoos? “Everyone’s got the right to their own views,” he says.

Before we end the call, Bradd invites me to come down to the bar sometime and have a pint with him and meet the team. So long as the beer lines are changed, I’d like to. Something Charlesworth told me – corroborated by the Liverpool Bands Facebook page’s admin, who has posted about the widespread reports of Charlesworth’s failure to pay artists – is true: Sotto is one of the few venues in Liverpool still booking grass-roots talent. That’s a responsibility I’d like to think Bradd and his team are up to meeting. Whether any new musical acts will trust that they won’t get stiffed in the future, though, is another matter.

Do you know more about any of the details shared in this story? Please get in touch: laurence@livpost.co.uk