Liverpool hen do finds six masks of a stranger, names him Neil and takes him out
A Newcastle hen party found an envelope of face masks of a mystery man in a Mathew Street pub, named him 'Neil' and gave him the night of his life – without him.
Somewhere out there is a man who had a cracking night out in Liverpool over Halloween weekend – and he has absolutely no idea.
Bride-to-be Lauren Andrews, 35, from Newcastle, was meant to be celebrating her hen do in Dublin, but cancelled flights moved the party to Mathew Street. In McCooley’s, the group spotted an Amazon envelope left on a table by another party. Inside were six face masks of the same mystery man.
Naturally, they gave him a name. “One of our group said he looked like a Neil,” Lauren told the Liverpool Echo. And so Neil came out for the night.
Illustration: Gorilla Gazette / AI-generated image – not a real photo, and not the real Neil.
Neil, it turns out, is very popular. Strangers queued to wear him for selfies. Two men from Finland joined in, and one took a Neil home to Finland, making him an international figure. At the Cavern Club, the band wore the masks for a couple of songs. Even the taxi driver who took the group home put one on.
Illustration: Gorilla Gazette / AI-generated image – not a real photo. Can you spot Gaz? #WheresGaz
“It brought so much laughter and joy to everyone who was involved,” Lauren said. She is marrying in December, and Neil is invited: the masks are coming to the wedding.
Photos are doing the rounds in Facebook groups, but so far nobody knows who the real man is. “This man, whoever he may be, has had a great night out and is totally unaware of it. I just hope we can find him,” she said.
So if you lost an envelope of your own face in a Liverpool pub, your table at a wedding is waiting.
Sources: Liverpool Echo (15 Nov 2026).
Image credits: Top photo: Marathon, “Mathew Street, Liverpool” (2024), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Geograph (representative, resized; not the hen party). Illustrations: Gorilla Gazette / AI-generated, not real photos.
