A really impressive thud alerted me to the landing on my doormat of the latest edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide.
I can report that in Merseyside twenty-one entries have been removed and twenty added since last year's guide.
As I say every time, if you want to know which pubs they are you'll have to buy the book when it goes on sale on 26 September.
The morning's torrential rain had eased off as I headed out to Maghull, hoping for a number of overdue ticks plus one new one.
From the station I walked past the Great Mogul, I've already done that one recently, and strolled through suburbia to the Fox:
Google says they open at 12, Facebook 14, so I should be OK at quarter past two? No!
Only a short walk from there to my next target, the Old Post Office:
This one was shut too - Not a good beginning to the survey; this is why I've mostly changed to Saturdays when places are more likely to be open in the afternoon. I've something else to do this Saturday though.
Some more walking, including passing by the Wetherspoon because I was in there in May this year, brought me to One Central:
More of a cafe than a bar, this one, will it be open and can I get a beer?
Things didn't look good as I entered, every table occupied by gentlefolk drinking coffee or tea, and no fonts on the counter. But wait, I can see a bloke with a pint in his hand and there are taps on the back wall, and so I was soon served with a pint of San Miguel.
"Anything else" asked the barman as he operated the till. "Another one" suggested the man standing next to me. Good idea!
I perched at the corner of an occupied table to relax and enjoy my cerveza. Chatter and the whooshing of the coffee machine were the main sounds in here. Is it over the borderline into cafe territory, I wonder. Oh well, I've drunk in here now, and I imagine the coffee/beer ratio would be very different in the evening.
The decor involves lots of rough woodwork. It looks rather good.
Another half a mile of walking took me past the Hare and Hounds, ticked recently, and on to the Meadows:
This Greene King "Flaming Grill" pub is, as all their pubs are, nicely decorated, clean and tidy.
Four handpumps with three "coming soon" is something of a harbinger of doom (No not Doom Bar) in my experience, but I risked a pint of Yardbird and it was excellent, albeit a little lively resulting in a lot of top-ups before the friendly barmaid handed it to me. One decent real ale is enough.
It was fairly quiet in here, just ticking over, but that seems to be the norm for pubs nowadays. Three or four gentle conversations were the only sound, except for the staff rattling plates, cutlery and glasses.
I noticed they have the exact same servery software as Wetherspoon do, someone at table 8 has ordered some food. What I still haven't found out is the reason other tables pop up on the screen in plain grey. Including mine here.
I continued to look round: Hanging behind the bar is a "public access bleed control kit", not noticed one of those before. Presumably there is a risk of a nasty cut from a broken glass in a pub. Does one need training to use it? I don't think I'd fancy applying a tourniquet without some advice on how tight to make it.
Table eight's food counted up to fourteen minutes, it is highlighted in mauve now which means it is ready in the kitchen. The food appeared just after I wrote that. I perused the menu of pub standards. £9.89 for fish chips and peas is fairly cheap in 2024, I think. Now I feel hungry!
I wondered about the building. Twenties or early thirties? The tall chimneys suggest the earlier part of that period. I can see it was built with multiple small rooms, now knocked through, so it must pre-date the "improved pub" era.
Moving on, just a short stroll brings us to Cask Cafe. In view of my success rate so far I'm a bit worried about a place that advertises opening at four, as it is now about five past:
A sort of secret pub, this, because all the signage refers to its alter ego as a coffee shop. In fact there's a notice on the door showing that it closes at two. Luckily I could see someone with a pint in hand through the window, and once I went in I found a lively hubbub of drinkers.
Four handpumps were in operation, I chose one I'd never heard of from Oakham brewery, now what was it called? Ah yes, Celeste, it's a very pale rather delicately flavoured hoppy ale, one of their seasonal brews. Very good.
I sat on a comfortable sofa alone in the back room, while the front room was full of people and conversations.
What a wonderful pub. I think I might have said this before about other ones, but if a place like this were to open near my home, I might have to abandon the pub guide research and just go there every day.
I was joined at my table by two other people. What's wrong with the dozen other empty tables I don't know, but the woman did ask if it was alright, and it was, so no complaints.
Another fairly short walk and a life threatening crossing of the A59 in rush hour (hyperbole) brought me to the Alt Park:
Another chain dining place, this time with Sizzling branding. This brand belongs to Mitchells and Butlers as do many other well known brands including Harvester, Vintage Inns, All Bar One, Nicholson's, O'Neill's, Ember Inns, Toby Carvery and so on.
Just like the Meadows, it is pleasantly decorated, clean and tidy.
No cask, so I had a Guinness.
Five o'clock by now, and there were a lot more diners in, keeping the staff busy. Fish chips and peas £8.29 here.
I was interested to note the Christmas Party menu. Wetherspoon took some flack a few years ago when they stopped offering a "Christmas dinner", replacing it with a Christmas-themed burger. This pub offers "Christmas Dinner Pie" so clearly spoons were leading the way and the others follow, as usual. Once again, I ask why my shares aren't going up.
Out of the window I viewed the back garden. Lots of picnic tables and some, er what's the word, a row of open sided roofed units each with a table and bench seats. In today's chilly weather no one was out there.
Time to head towards home, so I walked back to the station for a train in to town.
Quite a satisfactory survey after a shaky start, or so I thought until I got home and realised I had walked straight past the new-ish Neptune Beerhouse. So I could have got another brand new tick if I'd been awake.
An opportunity arose when friends visiting me were heading off to Bryn, so would be driving through Billinge. Normally this is a train ride followed by a bus ride away, so it would be foolish not accept a free lift. Thanks to Tony and Karyn I was soon dropped off at the Eagle & Child:
Sadly this plain pleasant pub has lost its real ale since I was last here, in 2018. Even more sadly, there were no other customers at half two on a Saturday, which doesn't bode well for the long term survival of this one that, for reasons I can't put my finger on, I really like. Is it just the attractive exterior?
As I sank my Carling one or two other customers appeared, I think there were some in the back garden.
I checked my database; there are five Merseyside pubs called Eagle and Child, it is of course the crest of the Stanley family, Earls of Derby.
Just across the road is the Stork Inn, sadly (I must stop writing sadly) closed for some years, with redevelopment work proceeding very slowly if at all:
Heading down the hill we reach the Foresters Arms:
Something of a plain down market place, this one, but clean and tidy, friendly and welcoming, and with a lot more customers than the previous call.
Quiet sports commentary, I don't know which sport (Probably rugby?), was mostly overpowered by gentle conversations as I enjoyed a second Carling.
I passed by the Billinge Arms, saved for later, and on down a tiny side road to the lovely Masons Arms:
What a fine pub this is. Despite being "in the middle of nowhere" (So much so that CAMRA don't even know which county it is in!) it is much busier than the previous calls. There can't be any passing trade, so everyone is here because it's a great pub.
Four handpumps on the counter, I selected Moorhouse's Premier, a rather excellent traditional bitter which I don't think I've tried before.
Multiple conversations were the main sound in here, I think the rugby might have been audible in the background. There was some kind of live music going on at the back of the pub, audible when I went to the gents and from the street, but undetectable inside the pub itself.
Back in the light rain up to Billinge's main street, and in to the aforementioned Billinge Arms:
A hubbub of activity in here with some kind of function going on out the back, but no problem getting served by the efficient busy bar staff, and no problem getting a table inside the main room.
The restaurant at the side has reverted to Italian again, I think, it's called Bellinis. They also do food in the pub part, I didn't read the menus but the specials board looked very tempting. I'm not sure if it's part of the same operation?
It is nearly five on a Saturday evening now, and this pub is showing how things should be done, with a continuous stream of customers at the counter keeping the staff busy, plus a regular flow of food coming out of the kitchen.
I felt a little guilty occupying a whole booth table as the place got busier, but I was here first!
