I commenced a tour of pubs near but not in New Brighton at Stanley's Cask:
What a beautiful pub this is. Mostly knocked through and nicely done throughout. And, even better, White Rat on one of the four hand pulls, and it was delicious. (I was disappointed to find the Big House had run out of White Rat yesterday evening.)
I tried to remember what this place looked like last time I was here, in 2017, it doesn't look familiar. Has it been further improved since then? Very good, anyway.
Very gentle background music mixed with conversation as I enjoyed my pint.
A thought wandered into my brain: I haven't seen any Christmas decorations yet. Excellent! How many more pubs before I see some holly?
Next, a short stroll to ... what's this? I've never heard of the Phoenix, is it new?
Subsequent research on the internet seems to show that I've missed this one; it has opened and closed since I was last here. Oh well, on to the Sandridge:
A very pleasant two sided interior in this boozer, no cask on offer so I had a Carling. Just a handful of customers, the one sitting near me was watching the racing closely.
Did I comment in a recent blog about the increased appearance nowadays of beer specific glasses? I've noticed that a pint of Carling now usually comes in a Carling glass, as it did here. Twenty years ago it would have been an unbranded sleeve or nonic. I saw in Wetherspoon's trading update yesterday that some of the spending on existing pubs is for "glass racks above bars (To cater for increased usage of brewers branded glasses)".
Now, another short walk to the Telegraph. The internet says it opens at two; does it?
Yes. "Only" two cask ales on offer, but one was my second White Rat of the day. Yippee! In a branded glass again.
Only two other customers, I think, in this large two sided pub. It's done out in a sort of food place style, I think, but there was no sign of any menus. The beer garden looks very pleasant but today is not the weather for that!
There are two more "near New Brighton" pubs on my target list, so a slightly longer walk down to the waterfront took me to the famous Magazine:
This wonderful pub is well known as a provider of real ale, and it is also famous for always having Bass on, so that was my choice, a pint of this brew which is fairly rare in Merseyside. And it was gorgeous.
I retreated to a quiet back room, but I could still hear chatter in various other areas of the pub. This one is busier than the previous three, chit chat and the occasional bark mixing with quiet muzac.
Just next door is the Pilot Boat but despite the sign saying it opened at twelve and the lights being on, the doors were shut, so it was time to head towards home.
Rather than returning the way I had come I decided on a pleasant stroll along the shoreline and then up through New Brighton's town centre. Here I found a slightly unexpected bonus: Tallulahs Emporium:
According to my database, this never visited pub was formerly the Corner House, then Tallulah's, then closed, and finally re-opened. I'm not sure how accurate that history is, but it is always good to get a new tick!
What I found was a pleasant high ceilinged room, or rather rooms, and a good looking counter with about eight keg beers on, I selected the tasty Pilsner Urquell. I noticed the sign on the wall, which the friendly barman had pointed me to when I couldn't read the pump clips, spelled it Urqell but the branded glass (See what I was saying before) confirmed the correct spelling with a U.
A good handful of customers were keeping the place ticking over, conversation mixing with pleasant music. I noticed some signs promoting live music here, obviously not on a Thursday afternoon. I've often thought that if one of my local pubs did live music I would be in there every week, but sadly Huyton isn't that sort of place. Yet.
Time for home. Some superb ale, and a brand new tick (Number 1,456), what a great day.
Beer of the day: Ossett White Rat
Miles walked: 2.2
Maybe coming soon: Kirkdale/Walton
No comments:
Post a Comment