I started today's researches in Prescot. There are a number of cafe bars along the main street which maybe ought to be added to my guide, but for today I'm visiting one that is already there, the Tempest:
This is a pleasant shop conversion, the decor of bare brickwork and matchboarding looks good. I selected the house lager from the six keg fonts but they've "got a problem with the pipes" and there's no draft beer at the moment. So I had a bottle of San Miguel for my first drink.
At one on a Saturday there were only two other customers and they were waiting for breakfasts and drinking orange juice, so not suffering from the lack of gas.
Next, a walk away from the centre to the Wellington:
This attractive "baronial" building is clearly an inter-war roadhouse, but my buddy ChatGPT doesn't have a precise date for it. I was startled to see that the source for ChatGPT's info is this very blog! My smugness at finding my description of the building as "baronial" was correct evaporated when I realised it had come from my own previous comments. Something of an incestuous relationship, I think, talk about an echo chamber!
Inside some original features are preserved despite significant knocking through of the formerly multi-roomed interior, although it would require someone better versed in architecture than I to decide how much is original and how much is modern repro or acquired from a reclamation yard.
There were two handpumps on the counter so I selected a fine pint of Landlord.
Here there were more customers than the Tempest, some eating. Plenty of space for more, though.
Next, a march along the perennially busy A58 St Helens Road to the next inter-war roadhouse, the Grapes:
Another impressive building from the 20s or 30s, ChatGPT can't give an exact year. Again the interior is heavily modified but still has some original features.
I eyed up the handpumps with a degree of suspicion and plumped for Greene King IPA which was excellent.
There were plenty of diners in here, in fact I had trouble finding a table without a reserved sign. The carvery smelled tempting and had a steady stream of customers. This one is quite busy compared with the previous two ticks, at half two. Is it just because time is moving on?
Next, a longer walk, there are two targets in Thatto Heath overdue for a visit, one of them not ticked for fifteen years. Google Maps came up trumps and routed me along a pleasant footpath instead of by road.
The first target I came to was the Brown Edge:
What an odd name for a pub, wonder what it means.
Inside is a well done comfortable plain boozer. The decor in the multi-area interior is somehow rather attractive.
The clips were turned so I just had a Carling.
Quite a few people were in here and the cheerful chatter was louder than the music. As, I think, it should be. This is one of those pubs where everyone knows everyone else, so they join in with each other's conversations.
The landlord (I think) sorted out the fruit machine, which involved a lot of ching ching clonk noises and also feeding in lots of notes and coins. Part of me wanted to say that doing that right by the open door was a little risky but I guess he knows what he's doing. Thinking about it, if I leapt up, grabbed the bag of money and ran out of the pub, how far would I get before he tackled me? Not very far, I bet.
Finally, a pub not ticked since 2010 because it wasn't open when it should have been in 2019. The internet tells me it is now a "community pub" and has been refurbished, so let's have a look in the York:
Refurbished, yes, but happily not ruined. The multi-roomed interior has been well decorated in plain style, and some excellent ceramics have survived.
I hid in one of the side rooms for peace and quiet, avoiding the cheerful banter by the counter.
My Carling was a malty one, even the ultimate "factory lager" has variations in flavour if you drink as much of it as I do.
Beer of the day: Landlord
Miles walked: 2.8
Maybe coming soon: Undecided
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