Dining Chain Pubs in Aintree

A bright and chilly Thursday found me at Old Roan station.  The eponymous pub has been closed for some time:

On to the dual carriageway traffic's roar on Dunnings Bridge Road, and the Bakers Dozen:

A standard Hungry Horse located on a retail park by a busy dual carriageway.  Pleasingly, there's a small corner dedicated to drinkers with no menus and no table numbers, and a pool table.

At the bar the three handpumps were out of action so I had a Guinness and settled in the drinkers' corner alone.

Observant readers of the Merseyside Pub Guide will have noticed that I have dropped the beer list, to be honest it has been an annoyance for some time:  My short term memory has always been poor so I often found that by the time I had sat down in a pub and got the tablet out, I'd forgotten what the bitters and lagers were, so I had to crane my neck or get up and have another look.  It's much easier not bothering!  As this is the first pub visited since I made the change, I'll note that from my seat I could see taps for Carling, Fosters, Coors and John Smiths.

An occasional family kept the place from being completely dead, but it was very quiet.  I suppose that's not surprising for a weekday afternoon in January.

By the way, the name comes, I think, from the fact that there is a large bread factory next door.

Next, I wandered down to the Park, where my outside observations confirmed what I had already suspected, it's just a residential hotel now:

Back past the Bakers and on to another chain dining place, the Packet Steamer:

This one is a Beefeater.  Once again there is a drinkers' area which was quite busy with a number of groups, including a wake.

Four handpumps on the counter but only one clip, Doom Bar, and I decided not to risk it, sticking to lager.

The drinkers' area was filled with a hubub of chatter and laughter, it was certainly doing better than the Bakers.  I couldn't see how busy the dining part was.

A quick check of the menu showed that with fish and chips at £12.59 it's not cheap, but I must say some of the menu items look very tasty.

Back past the Old Roan and on to the Valentine:

Another step towards the next milestone as this is my first visit, making it pub number 1,299.  It wasn't open when I passed last time.

I went in the lounge side, where there were a couple of customers standing at the counter, but no sign of any staff.  I headed through the connecting door to the bar side.  There were a couple of handpumps in the lounge side but none in the bar, so I stuck to lager.

Architectural notes:  It's hard to guess when it was built, 60s I think.  Not much original inside and the former off-sales has been knocked through into the lounge.

The barmaids chatted with the two or three regulars in the bar, while I sat in a corner and typed this.

The decor in the bar side was plain and pleasant, everything spotless and well maintained.

It's not far to the Blue Anchor:

Another dining chain pub this, Hungry Horse again, and with Fish and Chips at £7.79 it looks to be good value.  The rather fine inter-war building has been knocked through inside creating an enormous open nicely done food-oriented place.

At half three on a Thursday it was ticking over nicely, and chatter from the mostly non-dining customers was louder than the background music.

Four handpumps, three with clips, so I risked the one I'd never heard of, Anchors Away, and it was a rather good bitter.  A quick Google failed to tell me anything about it.  (Isn't the phrase "anchors aweigh" anyway?)

Now a long walk across the racecourse - I think the road is closed and the horses run across it in the Grand National - and eventually I reached the Queens.  A moment of concern when I came to an Indian Restaurant in what could have been a former pub building, but no, two doors further along was the pub:

Back in 2006 I recorded this as a two-sided pub, it has now been knocked through, with the servery forming an island between the two sides.  The plain decor is immaculate and very well done, with just a little quirkiness to lift it above the bog standard - I particularly liked the two foot tall silver stag displayed above the bar back.  Silver coloured rather than actual silver, I presume - Otherwise it'd be worth more than the pub!

The sound here was background music overlayed by chatter from a number of regulars who were keeping the place going as Thursday afternoon moved on to evening.

What I should have done now was move on to the Toby up the road, to complete my Aintree targets but I couldn't be bothered with another dining chain place so I headed back to the station and home.  Unfortunately it was too dark to take a picture as I passed the Sefton, now a curry house.

Pub of the day: The Valentine because it was a "proper pub", and a rather good one too.
Miles walked: 4.5
Maybe coming soon: Croxteth
Also coming soon:  The 2019 edition of the book is at the printers, so should be on sale before too long.