Grey Egremont

Perhaps I should have taken the hint from the chilly grey weather and stayed at home, but I headed under the river again with high hopes, aiming this time for Egremont and four pubs never before visited. Merseyrail took me to Birkenhead Park to connect with a bus along Brighton Street towards my selected pubs. The first, the Brighton, was unfortunately shut. It showed every sign of being operational, just not on a Monday afternoon.

I stayed one more stop on the bus for my next attempted pub, the Vaults. Fortunately this one was open and I joined a handful of locals in a bright and cheery room with a bar counter at one end. The place was very quiet as you might expect, but the array of disco lights suggests it's a lot more lively on a Saturday night. The building looks like it used to be a bank, and you can just about see the former night safe in the picture.

Next, down the hill to the shoreline and the Egremont Ferry. First impression was of a slightly down at heel and tatty pub as I walked to the door, and the inside was similar, although spotlessly clean. I approached the bar and did a double take as I spotted a hand pump offering Higson's Stout.

I thought they'd gone long ago! Of course, this is one of the resurrected Higsons brews produced by the Liverpool Organic brewery.
A pub with four hand pumps but only one working doesn't bode well, and the Cask Marque certificate dated 2008 didn't exactly boost my confidence, but I needn't have worried as the Stout was excellent. I settled on a high stool and admired the view of the Liverpool shore from Seaforth to the Pier Head.

It was only a short walk away from the waterfront to my next destination, the King's Arms. Unfortunately this one was shut as well, and looked to have been out of action for some time. Drat! What to do now? Obviously I should get the map out of my bag and go and find some more pubs to visit, but at this point fate intervened in the form of a 433 bus heading for Liverpool so I wimped out and headed back under the Mersey for a nice pint in Doctor Duncan's before heading home.