Formby

I've had rather too many lagers on recent surveys, so let us try and find some cask for a change.  How about Formby?

I started at the station, in the Railway:

(The photo I took was rubbish so here is one from the last time I was here.)

This nicely done member of the Ember Inns chain has a good array of "standard" cask ales, you know the sort of thing, Wainwright, Doom Bar, Landlord, and personal favourite Ghost Ship of which I had an excellent pint.  A good start.

At two on a Thursday the pub was mostly empty, just a few groups dining.  I scanned the menu, the cheap afternoon prices look good, with fish, chips and peas only £6.49, a lot more after 5pm but I think you get a bigger portion then.  Quite a few tables had reserved signs for early evening so clearly it will be a lot busier later.

More people came in keeping the place ticking over.

Next, the Cross House:

Another up-market dining place, this time run by Greene King, again sparsely occupied but ticking over.

Oh wow, they've got my favourite ale Oakham Citra here, my plan for decent cask is certainly coming to fruition!

I looked around this pub, has it substantially changed or am I incorrectly recalling a different place?  No, I don't think so, it used to have a front part - a drinkers pub - and a separate diners area beyond, but it's not like that now.  Having said that, the room where I sat had no menus on display, so they are still aiming to split eaters from boozers to some extent.  I must say that the decor is rather well done, and certainly different from last time I was here.

An uncommon feature of the interior is a high table with four high chairs each side which has a row of mains sockets and USB sockets along the middle, presumably the idea being that people can do some work on the interweb while having a drink.  (Or if you're being professional, a coffee)

Next, somewhere where I can hope for yet another decent ale, it's Wetherspoon's Lifeboat:

Much busier than the previous two places, but still with plenty of free tables.  I spotted another favourite ale, Full Whack, but unfortunately it ran out after half a pint.  Impressively, the clip was immediately removed, why can't all 'spoons do this?  Instead, I had one from years ago, Ringwood Old Thumper, I haven't seen this for ages.  Very tasty.

This is one of those Wetherspoon's with an open kitchen, so I selected a seat where I could see what is going on.  They were having a thorough cleanup during the lull between lunch and dinner.  I noticed a big box of poppadoms ready to add to curry club orders.  Many years ago I grumbled that the poppadoms were always soggy, but more recently that hasn't been the case.  Do they give them a zap in the microwave to crisp them up, perhaps?  I hoped someone would order a curry while I was watching but no one did.  I observed other dishes, though:  the fish was dipped in batter and deep fried to order, not freezer to microwave as I expected.  I noticed they've changed the software driving the status screens, perhaps they are tired of smart-arses like me decoding the colours and knowing our dinner is ready/late/whatever.  So now the food order pops up on the kitchen display and only moves to the delivery screen when it's ready.  Finally a curry went through and I learned that that poppadoms go straight to the serve, so they must have a magic trick that keeps them crisp.

Sorry about that waffle, I'm a bit of a Wetherspoon's nut, and I need to keep an eye on my investment!

Next, a walk to Freshfield and micropub Beer Station:

Four out of four? Oh yes, somebody's Rum Porter was absolutely delicious.

It's half four by now and this place is doing well, I bagged the last free table inside.  A classic of the micro-pub class, with umpteen people and dogs enjoying a drink and a chat.  Or in the case of the dogs, mainly a snooze.  Almost everyone was my age or older, with just one younger bloke having multiple halves.

I scanned the inevitable pump clips stuck on the wall.  One or two favourites and some I'd like to try, but who brews "Fucking Bastard"?  I can't read the rest of the clip.  Subsequent research on Untappd tells me it's a barley wine by 3 Piers, named after the village of Fucking in Austria, of course.  (Actually, according to Wikipedia, the villagers tired of their signs being stolen, and changed the name to Fugging in 2021.)

There's quite a lot of "art" on the walls, some of it for sale.  I particularly liked a drawing of this bar, with multiple superlambananas outside and in.

Annoyingly, there is no mobile signal here at all, how will I know what time my train home is?  The answer is I can see the station from my seat, so I'll just note the times the trains go by and thereby deduce when the next one is...

That worked well and I was soon on my way home.  Four superb pints, what a wonderful survey.  Turned out nice again!

Pub of the day: Beer Station by a narrow margin.
Beer of the day: Oakham Citra by a narrow margin.
Miles walked: 1.75
Maybe coming soon: Wavertree, Bold Heath, Clock Face