On a warm and sunny Thursday you find me on a very long bus ride to Woodvale. During the seventy minute trip (!) I was able to observe umpteen pubs; I noted surprisingly few changes; one closure and more interestingly, one I have recorded as closed but the doors were open - Swifts in Kirkdale. Eventually the bus passed Woodvale airport (Despite flying from Speke many times I never landed here, although it was always my emergency fallback if I couldn't get back in to Liverpool.) and I got off and took a short walk for a long overdue visit to the Sparrowhawk:
I must say I feel a little underdressed in my t-shirt although nowadays everyone dresses down to some extent, even in a dining pub as posh a this one.
In the beautiful multi-roomed interior every square inch of wall is covered in miscellaneous pictures, perhaps to excess?
I took my pint of Sparrowhawk Pale, brewed by Facer's in Y Fflint, and found a table without place settings in the end of the room allocated to drinkers. I noticed they also had Facer's Plum Porter, I should have tried that to see if it was as wonderful as Titanic's original. The Pale was very good, anyway.
At two thirty the lunch time rush was over, the customers were mostly finishing their meals or just coming in for an afternoon drink.
A stroll of a mile and a half brought me to a new one, In Den Engel:
Here I found a pleasant plain shop conversion with one wall occupied by a fantastic range of bottles of (mostly) Belgian beers. On the counter were keg taps, again mostly Belgian, and also three handpumps, so I'm afraid I wasted my chance to have all time favourite Rochefort 10 (I see they've also got a Rochefort Triple, I've never heard of that one.) and had a gorgeous pint of Titanic Plum Porter.
A group of four departed shortly after my arrival, leaving just three customers at ten to four. Then the other two departed. The landlady appeared, wiping tables and asking if I minded the open door. I was still quite warm after my walk so I didn't.
I had chosen a seat facing the wall of bottles and I have to confess to being tempted to just stay here and have some favourites or some new ones. Especially as it is another mile and a half to the next target. If this bar was walking distance from my home I would ask them for a stock list and then tick them off, two or three a day, until I'd tried them all! That might mean the end of the Merseyside Pub Guide!
What about this weather! Having switched this morning from winter coat to summer jacket for the first time in 2025, I then undertook a mile and a half of walking with the jacket over my arm, and I was still quite warm when I reached the next target, the Pines:
This pleasant shop conversion has just two handpumps, but that's more than enough and my pint of Vocation's Chop and Change was a very tasty hoppy pale one.
The place was pretty busy at five with umpteen regulars who all know each other chatting amongst themselves and to the barman who was kept busy with lots of orders. I bagged a small table, and there were one or two other free tables but lots of the blokes were standing and plenty were sitting outside as well.
Not everyone was on the beer, I saw bottles of wine and what looked like some kind of gin and tonic being consumed as well. Customers, male and female, ranged from older than me down to only just legal drinkers. So this is a great bar for all the locals and it's deservedly doing well.
My original plan for today was to start here and finish at the Sparrowhawk, until I realised this bar and the one round the corner don't open until four, so I reversed the route. So, round the corner to the Grasshopper:
I entered to find a tiny shop conversion with at least six handpumps, I've always been a fan of Derby's Shiny Brewery so I selected their Disco Balls, a tasty pale one.
No chance of a seat in this busy room but wait, there's a door through to the other half where there were plenty of free spaces. Some blokes were enjoying playing darts, with definitely more fun than skill involved. That's the way to do it!
As I enjoyed my ale I got chatting to the darts players, they were celebrating a birthday and it was great to have some conversation covering pub guides, how to run a bar, darts skills and multiple other topics.
All too soon it was time to head for a train towards home, so I departed. Happy birthday John.
What did I say about the weather? It was raining as I walked to Hillside station. Four excellent cask ales, one new tick, that's a good result for a Thursday.
Beer of the day: Titanic Plum Porter
Miles walked: 3.4
Maybe coming soon: Litherland, Upton
