2025

I recently created some software which analyses my pub database and reports on statistics, so let's have a look...

In 2025 I logged 258 pub visits.  This does not include pubs I regularly drink in, because I don't record them in the database.

Of those 258 visits, 206 were "required" (I.E. I hadn't been there in the preceding five years), just over the target of 200.  A remarkable 68 of those were to places never before visited, a mixture of brand new operations and newly-discovered older ones - That's the highest number since 2018.

In the last five years I have used 949 pubs, a little shy of the target I have set myself of one thousand.  I'm going to blame that on the lockdowns that continued into 2021 - Only four pubs visited in the first four months.

Moving on to the grand totals for the twenty-seven years I have been doing this, there are 2,090 pubs in my database, of which I have drunk in 1,586.  926 locations are now recorded as no longer operational, and experience shows there will be more that have closed but I haven't found out yet.  Sometimes it's only when I get to the door!

What's in the future?  More of the same, I think; in 2026 I will again aim for 200 "required" visits and I am hoping to get the five year figure closer to a thousand.  A trip to the new Everton stadium on a match day should net me a few new ones to get things going.  I can see 1,600 pubs visited coming fairly soon as well, only fourteen more needed.

In conclusion, may I wish a Happy New Year to all my readers.  I'll see you here or, even better, in a pub in 2026.

Huyton

Not a proper survey today, but I can't resist a few local ticks with my shopping.  I started in the Old Bank:

This is a classic boozer in both interior style and atmosphere, but it's not actually very old - opened in about 2012 I think.  Sadly, I learned from the Echo that it is to close down soon, this holiday season being their last hurrah.  The people of Stockbridge Village and Page Moss will then have no pubs left.  A regrettable loss indeed, this is a fine example of a friendly local pub.

At half one on a Saturday afternoon one can see why it is no longer viable:  Just six regulars plus a pub blogger keeping the place ticking over.

Next, a fairly short walk took me and my shopping bags on to the Oak Tree:

It was significantly busier in here than in the Old Bank, but still pretty quiet for the last Saturday before Christmas.

This splendid 1920s (?) building houses another traditional locals' boozer.  Little remains of the original decor inside, but it is still pleasantly done out.

Of course it spent some years as a Wetherspoon but they didn't do very well here in lager town and gave up fairly quickly, before trying again in central Huyton a few years later, where they were, and are, much more successful.

There was some disconcerting shouting, worrying until I realised he was cheering a horse on in a race on a telly I couldn't see!

Finally, the way home goes past the Swan, so let's get a tick there as well:

Another classic building, this one dating from the 1950s I'm going to guess, but it could earlier?

Both the Swan and the Oak Tree were last ticked on the day before the first lockdown closed all the pubs.  I remember the landlady in the Swan was putting up Mother's Day decorations, little did she know that they would be shut down by then.

Anyway, back in the real world I entered to find a very nicely done pub, just as before.  It was pretty quiet with only a handful of regulars scattered around the place, but in the other (bar) side was some kind of function from which I could hear a hubbub of chatter.  The way between the two sides of the pub was closed off.  I don't know what it was, but it is good too see a pub making money (I hope) from events.

Other regulars came in, even here in the quiet side the place was ticking over.

Pub of the day: Old bank
Beer of the day: Carling
Miles walked: 2
Maybe coming soon: Kirkby

Birkenhead Odds and Ends

I elbowed my way through the pre-Christmas crowds in town and made my way to a much more peaceful Birkenhead, where I started in the Glen Affric Taproom:

I had wondered if this place would be full of parties, but happily there were only four or five customers fifteen minutes after opening.

In a break with my normal procedure, I ordered halves of two of the thirty-ish keg offerings.  One was a superb chocolate and hazelnut porter, the other an incredible blood orange IPA which tasted more like fresh orange juice than a beer.  The friendly barman asked if I was going to make a chocolate orange beer by mixing them;  I resisted, although that might have been rather wonderful.

Eventually I dragged my attention away from the excellent beer and looked around.  As with almost all brewery taps this is the corner of a warehouse.  Somehow it seems more pleasant than most, though.  The seating is mainly in comfortable booths, the seasonal decorations were restrained and tasteful.

Next, I had a look at the beer menu on my table.  Having met my target for pub ticks for this year, I could just stay here all day and try lots of other tempting brews; a cherry sour, a pineapple lager, and a 7.2% hazy IPA caught my eye.

But no, it's my duty to head out into the cold in search of beers nowhere near as good, in pubs not ticked in the last five years...

So, on to the Lion.  My pre-flight checks had resulted in a question mark for this one, the internet didn't want to give me any useful information and Google maps had deleted it altogether.  So I wasn't overly surprised to find it long closed.  Perhaps I should have stayed in Glen Affric!

Anyway  my next target was Molly's Chambers which was open:

This cellar bar was sadly deserted at two on a Saturday, no wonder they don't open earlier in the week.

I had a pint of (real) Budweiser and sat on a comfortable bench seat.  Like the related Swinging Arm this place is aimed at live music, I had a great view of the (empty) stage.

I monitored the TV screens, to learn about future gigs here and at the Swinging Arm.  So I learned that their own lager House Band is brewed in Belgium by Huyghe who make Delerium Tremens.  I also noted that the excellent Partial Eclipse are back on 8 Feb next year.  See you there?

Next, a long walk to one other required tick, but first a quick check of the Blue Bell:

Closed as expected, so on to the Cavendish:

Despite looking like a shop conversion from the front this has much more of the atmosphere of a traditional pub inside, and it's got three or four times the customers of the last two ticks combined.  A plain split level interior with lots of cheerful regulars drinking lager, watching racing, playing pool, and so on.  In other words, an excellent, successful, locals' boozer.

I wonder why this is the only pub in this part of Birkenhead overdue for a tick?  For some reason I didn't come here when I did all the surrounding places last year.

What next?  Ideally I should take a long walk to the Bidston to confirm that it is closed.  Second best is a slightly shorter walk to the North Star to finish off the required ticks.  The lazy option is to head home now.  On reflection, as I've got to go nearly half way to the North Star to get a train home I might as well do option two...

The North Star:

A bit dark for a photo by now.  Another classic locals' boozer, clean and tidy as they all are nowadays, with plenty of friendly regulars in at four on a Saturday.

I relaxed in a quiet corner to sink my Carling.  Christmas decorations were at just the right level, not over the top.

Two women were playing darts. They had some kind of display to do the sums but I think they were ignoring it and using proper arithmetic to decide who won.  I always found subtracting 17 and 1 and 12 from 501 to be the hardest part of the game - Of course, if your score is 180 the sums are easier but I never got anywhere near that!

As it should be, the background music was intermittently drowned out by cheerful chatter, this is the soundtrack of a proper boozer!

Time for home!

Pub of the day: Cavendish
Beer of the day: Glen Affric I Can't Believe it's NOT-ella
Miles walked: 4.2
Maybe coming soon: Don't know