Waterloo

I started my tour of this excellent pubby area with a place that definitely isn't a pub, the Royal Hotel:

Most certainly a hotel lounge/restaurant, which would generally exclude it from the guide, but they have quality cask ale so I keep them in.  One good ale is enough choice, and my pint of Fab Four IPA from Rock The Boat was excellent.

I sat at a small table, surrounded by various dining groups.  The unnecessary muzac was mostly drowned by gentle conversations.

Not much to say about the decor, standard nicely done hotel lounge with a carpet Wetherspoon's would be proud of!

Next, a proper pub, the Victoria.  My pre-flight checks had failed to find any opening hours for this one so I feared it might have closed in the five years since I was last here, but happily not:

One handpump on the counter but the clip is turned round, so a Carling for me.

This a very large pub, I was in the big main room which has been knocked through around an L-shaped servery, there's another room on the other side of the entrance door, without a counter.

Three or four customers only, all of whom knew and chatted to the cheerful barmaid.  I hope they get more later.  I can't see the Royal Hotel diners nipping in here for a quick one on the way home.

I had noted Flanagan's was shut as I passed on the way from the station, but it looks like it might still be operational:

Now a longer walk back past the station, up to Crosby Road and along to a hoped for new tick, the Old Tap:

Oh yes, it's open, pub number 1,441!  A very pleasantly done shop conversion, with the majority of the drinkers enjoying the sunshine out front.

I stayed in the peaceful interior, and drank something from Oakham Brewery that I've never tried before.  Not as good as all time favourite Citra, more of a traditional bitter but still very tasty.

The menu on each table is just wine and cocktails, I ask once again doesn't anyone drink a bloody Mary any more?  They have got a fine selection of foreign and British bottles and cans in a large fridge - From my seat I could recognise three different Delirium brews and Orval.

Now where?  The Four Ashes isn't open yet (Not complaining, published hours say so.) so how about another one that my internet research had suggested might not have survived.  But it has, so in to the Ferndale.  I forgot to take a picture, so here's one from my last visit, nothing much has changed:

Down market, certainly, but the interior is spotless and well cared for, so any complaint would be pure snobbery.   This was one of the Oak Lodges chain back in the 1990s, and it has got the split level interior typical of that brand.

Naturally, I had to stick to Carling once again, the two handpumps on the counter were, I'm sure, only decorative.

A stream of customers kept the barmaid going, there were probably more people in here than in the Old Tap.

The audio in here was mainly animated chatter, with a music channel on the telly in the background.  It seemed to be stuck in the 70s, Chuck E's In Love, My Sweet Lord, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet and so on.  I saw Bachman Turner Overdrive play a free show in Point State Park, Pittsburgh, back in 2001.

Time for home, although perhaps I should stay on for a few more hours, to see a Waterloo Sunset?

Pub of the day: The Old Tap
Beer of the day: Fab Four IPA
Miles walked: 1.6
Maybe coming soon: Picton, Wavertree, City Centre.