Frodsham

Outwith my purview, I know, but worthy of a visit.  Of course I don't need an excuse for a pub crawl, but I wanted to ride the new train service on the Halton Curve, so I travelled from Liverpool to Frodsham, where I started in the Queen's Head:

At ten past eleven it was unsurprisingly empty.  The interior is an odd mix of very old stonework and beams at one side, and less ancient traditional dark wood matchboarding elsewhere.  Overall a very pleasant multi-room pub.

There were four handpumps and I selected a pint of Weetwood's Cheshire Cat.  I turned down the offer of a loyalty card, who knows when I'll be here again?

The music was a bit loud for an empty pub, I thought.  The menu looks good, fish and chips were £9.99

Next, the Red Lion.  Annoyingly, they don't open when Whatpub says they do.

On to the Bear's Paw:

A splendid ancient building outside, inside lovely dark wood panelling in multiple rooms.

The handpumps in this Greene King house offered the usual IPA, Abbot, Speckled Hen, plus two from Weetwood, my pint of Eastgate was spot on.

The menu with GK's Time Well Spent branding includes fish and chips at £9.99.

Initially empty, this place got much busier as I enjoyed my pint and watched a bit of World Cup Cricket.  All the other customers seemed to be here for the food.

Next, I walked straight past the front door but eventually found my way in to the GBG-listed Helter Skelter:

I think this is a modern conversion, it's very nice inside.

No less than twelve handpumps in here, no wonder CAMRA like it.  I had a great pint of a favourite of mine, Salopian Oracle.

Much busier that the previous two places, in here the gentle background music was mostly drowned out by cheerful chatter.

I must say this is a wonderful friendly local's boozer, filled with laughter and chit-chat.

My next target was the other GBG pub, Kash 22, but it wasn't open:

Neither was the Cholmondely Arms:

So I headed for the Golden Lion:

What a beautiful interior in this Sam Smith's pub.  I couldn't see any real ale, but the keg OBB was £2 a pint.

As you can imagine, at that price it is quite popular although it was by no means full.  The soundtrack was multiple conversations, with no music.

It was only after I had typed these thoughts that I noticed the "mobile tablet and laptop free zone" sign.  Ooops!

So, with a number of my targets being closed when they should be open, the Red Lion got another chance:

Perhaps more down market than most of my previous calls today, but none the worse for that.

Only Doom Bar on the counter, so I decided to stick to lager instead.

The regulars were occupied playing pool and chatting, while I watched the Windies trounce Pakistan.  (As soon as they'd won, the telly was switched to horses.) 

The pub seemed to have more dogs than humans in, I'm not sure how many, if any, were residents.  They certainly made more noise than the humans, anyway.  Racing from Epsom was on the telly now, with just one or two of the regulars paying attention.

Time to head for home, with the added bonus of a loco and coaches to take me to Earlestown:

Pub of the day: The Bear's Paw for looks, or the Helter Skelter for ale and atmosphere.
Miles walked: 1