City Centre Miscellany

I was in town for shopping, but I might as well tick a few pubs off, starting with the Queens:

Hidden in a corner of the mostly up-market complex of restaurants that is Queens Square is this plain basic boozer.

At one on a Wednesday there were plenty of customers enjoying their lager and chatting.  There were a lot of swearwords to be heard!

As I enjoyed my lager I was wondering what this unit was before it became Queens.  Research when I got home revealed that Streetview shows it as some kind of cafe called Pure Cabin, but there used to be a place somewhere here called Bar Med and I suspect this might be it, or did that become La Tasca next door?

Next, Pogue Mahone:

My notes from 2008 recorded this as "probably the nearest you'll find to a real Irish pub in Liverpool."  Only having visited Eire a couple of times I'm not sure how true that is, but it feels less "plastic paddy" than most.

My Guinness (what else) was part filled and left to stand for a minute, in fact the friendly barman asked me to sit down and then brought it over.  Does this really make it any better?  I'm not sure, it seems to me the pint somehow had more body and flavour to it, but that's purely subjective and may be just because I'm sitting in an Irish bar.

Only two other customers at two thirty, so the place was very quiet.  Then three more people came in, doubling the population of drinkers.

I looked round.  There's a pile of pumpkins in the corner, awaiting carving for Hallowe'en I presume.

Finally, the Blob Shop:

On occasion I have described this (verbally, not in writing, thank goodness) as the scariest pub in Liverpool, because when you walk past there always seems to be a drunk or two (or more) smoking and/or staggering by the door.

In truth it's nowhere near as bad as that might imply; down market certainly but, at three in the afternoon, full of cheerful friendly old blokes.

The only noise was the steady chatter, the racing on the TVs was silent, or too quiet to be heard over the hubub.

Two staff were needed to keep the clientele in ale, most were on lager, as was I.

My notes from 2004 record Aussie White and Red Biddy served from barrels behind the bar.  There's only one barrel now, but it looks like it still dispenses one of those, although it could be decorative with the tap piped from elsewhere.  I looked round but I couldn't see anyone who wasn't drinking a pint.

The servery was covered in Hallowe'en decorations, cobwebs, spiders, skeletons and so on.

Shopping completed, I headed for home.

Pub of the day:  I think Pogue Mahone, for its pleasant atmosphere and friendly service.
Miles walked:  2.4 miles.
Maybe coming soon:  Edge Hill, Bebington.