Just as I was about to head out to the Wirral yesterday there was a knock on the door. My copy of the latest edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide had arrived.
I can report that in Merseyside twenty-one entries have been removed and twenty-one added since last year's guide.
As I say every year, if you want to know which pubs they are you'll have to buy the book when it goes on sale on 25 September.
I dodged rain showers and Everton fans and headed under the river to visit a scattered selection of targets, hopefully including a new one. From Spital station it was just a short walk to Mississippis:
I could have sworn this place was upstairs, but no, it's on the ground floor, and always has been. A comfortable pub with well done decor.
A slight delay because the delivery van arrived just before I did, and the landlady was occupied receiving kegs and so on, but after a couple of minutes she was back on duty, apologising for the wait. On the counter were four handpumps, one of which had a Trappers Hat clip, and it produced an excellent pint.
Only two other customers at half one on a Saturday, I hope they get more at other times.
Arsenal were on the telly, they had sprinklers on at half time, don't they have rain in London? Oh, wait, have they got a roof?
Just across the road is the Three Stags:
This is an Ember Inns location so we know what to expect inside this wonderful inter war roadhouse. On the counter I found about six handpumps, one of which provided an excellent pint of Bass.
I wanted to ask ChatGPT when the place was built but it wasn't working for some reason. Never rely on these stupid computers! (I'm going away on trip soon for which I have umpteen train e-tickets. You can bet I've printed them all out just in case!)
The interior decor here is Ember Inns standard, pleasant and comfortable. Custom was surprisingly sparse at two on a Saturday, perhaps more will come in later?
I must say I hadn't really expected to start with two quality pints, I fear it might be downhill from now on!
Next, a long walk to the Village:
Such a long a walk that I had to ask the barman where the gents was and head out of the bar to reception to find it before returning to order my pint of Stella Unfiltered.
It came in an ordinary Stella goblet and was only slightly hazy. Does it taste better than the normal? I'm not sure.
This is a pleasant modern hotel bar with a decent quantity of customers at three. In one corner are a few rows of cinema style seats in front of a giant TV, what a good idea for TV sports. No one was there, I assume they can't (legally) get the Everton game, so the screen was just showing Sky Sports News.
Now, another long march to New Ferry where there are umpteen pubs I don't need at the moment, and one "new" one, the CD Pub:
This used to be a private members club, I think, which is why I've never been in before, but now it's open to all. Outside, it looks like a church hall.
Anyway, I headed in and into the big room which was dressed up for a function complete with bouncy castle and was full of families making lots of noise. I've come all this way so I'm going to get a tick, I thought, and walked up to the counter and ordered a Carling. Are you with the party asked the friendly barmaid, "er, no" I replied, expecting to be refused, but she said "you want the other bar round there". I headed along the corridor and into an empty room where she was already pouring my drink at the counter. "There's a lot less screaming kids in this side" she said. And she was right!
After a couple of minutes some other non-party customers joined me in the quiet side.
A pub which can hold a noisy function and also provide a peaceful bar at the same time is to be highly recommended. The discussion between the barmaid and the other drinkers seemed to imply that food was on offer, but I didn't see any served while I was there.
The noise ceased in the other side, is the party over I wondered? As I enjoyed my fizz more people came in, they all seemed to know each other and enjoyed chatting, ignoring the stranger typing on a tablet in the corner.
Finally, it's not that far, just under a mile, to walk to the one remaining target in this area, the Kings Arms. It'd be foolish not to:
Good grief, so different from all the other pubs today, perhaps because it is now 5pm it is very busy with umpteen groups, families and pals and so on. Food and drink is being served in a continuous stream keeping the staff working hard.
Outside this is another impressive inter war roadhouse, inside Greene King have knocked through and remodelled, creating a very good but not historic interior.
The only pump clip offered GK IPA, I decided to risk it and it was spot on.
Time for home, now, just one more trek to the nearest station. One brand new tick, three quality cask ales, not a bad score all told.
On a cold and wet Thursday I set off for a trip to Formby where I started in a new one - New to me, that is, it's been open since last year, the Auld Dubliner:
Here I discovered a very pleasantly decorated Irish style bar in which, somewhat to my surprise, I found operational handpumps. My Wainwright Gold was good.
About a dozen customers were in at two on a rainy Thursday afternoon, one group were putting the world to rights. They moved on to football, apparently Liverpool have already won the league!
This is a really nice bar, I must say, a welcome addition to the Formby scene.
Just a few doors along is one I've never heard of, Emily's:
Wow! Behind the small frontage is an enormous place with beautiful decoration consisting of millions of plants. Some plastic, I think, and some real. The interior designer here has done a really brilliant job in my opinion.
I selected Brooklyn IPA from the ten taps. In the drinking area I didn't get to see a food menu but I'm guessing it is tempting but not cheap.
At half two there were plenty of customers keeping the place busy, and the barman was constantly making cocktails.
That's it for central Formby, a walk now over the railway and into suburban streets. No danger of getting lost on the way to the Pinewoods!
Well I never. This pleasant sixties construction has three handpumps on the counter, one of which carries a handwritten Bass sign. Should I risk it? The lad behind the counter had some difficulty pulling it, which didn't exactly boost my confidence, but eventually I got a fine pint. (For those who don't know, I should explain that there is an unwritten law of pub ticking which specifies that if Bass is available I have to choose it. The previous occasion for me was Saturday just gone in the Swan and Railway in Wigan - What a great pub!)
The interior of this large pub has been knocked through, creating a large pleasant open space. The decor is unexciting but nice enough.
The sounds in here were quiet football commentary (Live? Seems an odd time.), quiet chatter and quiet music. Spot on!
Another zig zag walk involving another crossing of the railway took me to the Grapes:
This giant knocked through building is nicely done out. It has still sort of got two sides but they are pretty much indistinguishable. I was pleased to see some handpumps and while a couple were "coming soon" I still had a choice of three, and the Salopian Oracle was spot on.
It was very quiet in here at four o'clock, but a number of tables had reserved signs for this evening. The what's on board said live music and bingo, I'm not sure which, if either, was bringing people in.
This one is under the same brand as the Pinewoods, the People's Pub is a Stonegate operation. I checked the menu, which looks rather good. Fish and chips, with bread and butter and curry sauce, is £14, or just fish, chips and peas for £11.
There's one more overdue tick in this area so I'm going to head there. The weather had improved to sunshine by now, so I hid my coat in my bag as I headed off. Going back twenty odd years the Freshfield was a great cask ale destination with a dozen or more handpumps on the counter. Nowadays it is run by Greene King, so I am wondering what to expect:
And the answer is... They've still got umpteen cask ales on, and my White Rat was lovely. And in an Ossett glass. So, highly recommended!
The place was ticking over nicely, and a number of tables were reserved later on, my one at eight - I'm sure I'll be home by then.
The menu includes fish and chips for 15.75, so a bit more than the Grapes, but the beer choice is better.
Something occurred to me: I have grumbled in the past about "99" prices, do they really think charging 12.99 makes me think it is better than 13 quid? But today, all the prices I've seen have been round numbers, is it just chance or have those who decide these things come round to agreeing with me? We'll see...
What a survey, five ticks - one brand new - and four decent cask ales, brilliant! See you next week...
