Updated Book

It's that time of year again.  The 2013 edition of the Merseyside Pub Guide is now available for purchase direct from the printers, for only £7.20 plus postage and packing.

You know you want one!

Birkdale

A gloriously sunny, if cold, Tuesday saw me heading out of Liverpool on the Southport line and alighting at Hillside station, which is on the south side of Birkdale.  There don't appear to be any hills around here so I wonder where the name comes from.  Mind you, Southport isn't a port so I suppose it's just following local practice.

My first destination was to the never before visited Crown Hotel.  I found a very nicely decorated food-oriented chain pub doing a very good trade in lunchtime meals - It seemed like I was the only person who'd come in for a drink.  Unusually, at one end of the very large space was a plainer area with a pool table, the modern equivalent of the bar side.  I enjoyed a spot on pint of Thwaites Wainwright, one of my favourite brews.

I moved on for another first visit, to the Portland Hotel.  A slightly threadbare appearance on the outside of the building, but once I got inside it was much better cared for, with some good original-looking features in the large lounge side including plasterwork on the ceiling and a fine fireplace.  No real ale, so I settled down with a pint of the black stuff, while the landlord got busy with the dirty job of relaying the fire.  Sadly I was the only customer on a Tuesday afternoon, I hope they get a lot more later.

A stroll through the centre of Birkdale itself took me to the Good Beer Guide listed Fishermens Rest, another standard food-led pub.  The large partially knocked-through interior was busy with diners as I sat on a very comfy sofa with another pint of Wainwright.  The menu looked rather good, and seemed a little cheaper than most.  Unusually for this sort of pub, meals are paid for at the till after you have eaten.  The staff all seemed particularly efficient and friendly, which I'm certain must lead to plenty of repeat custom.
(No complaints about apostrophes please, the pub name on the signs is rendered as I have shown.)

For my final stop I headed back towards Birkdale station and to the Park Hotel.  Another food-oriented chain pub with lots of people dining, but there were also a number of regulars in for drinks and friendly chit-chat.  They've painted over much of the dark wood panelling which I noted in 2004, and my comment about this making the interior a bit gloomy no longer applies.  Another great pint of Wainwright for me, it seems to be very popular hereabouts.
Sorry, no photo as it was getting dark by this time.

In summary, a pleasant excursion with some decent pints in pleasant surroundings, and the total of pubs researched goes up to 1,142. 

A Mixed Bunch in Town

A couple of trips into Liverpool gave me the chance to make a few long-overdue pub visits.  Sorry, no pictures this time.

Let's start on Whitechapel in The Beehive - Incidentally one of two pubs with this name in the City Centre.  Not much has changed since my last visit in 2007, except for the welcome addition of real ale, and I was able to enjoy a decent pint of Black Sheep.  A long narrow "corridor bar" with some original features including a good ceramic dado in the standing area by the bar.  To the rear is a restaurant area which was totally deserted when I visited, although a number of people were eating in the more friendly surroundings of the front seating area.

The menu, a good selection of standard pub fare, features this sad indictment of our education system:  "CHECK OUT ARE 2 FOR £10.00 MAIN MEALS OVERLEAF LOOK FOR THE ONES WITH AN ASTERIX".  Under the laws of natural justice, no doubt I'll be punished for having the gall to make this criticism with a really embarrassing grammatical or spelling error appearing in this post.  [Pun intended]

The Lion on Moorfields is a gem well worthy of its inclusion in CAMRA's list of historic pub interiors.  It retains the traditional layout of an L-shaped corridor between the doors, with the servery and bar room on the inside of the L, and the lounge rooms (two in this case) on the other side of the passageway.  Service for the lounges is provided via two tiny hatches in the cut glass partition that divides the corridor from the bar.

At the time of my visit they were having a beer festival, with eight real ales on, making it even harder than usual to choose a beer, peering at the back of the pumps through the serving hatch.  Luckily the landlord pointed me to the blackboard behind me.  I selected a pint of Leeds Brewery's Yorkshire Gold - splendid!

On to Ma Boyles Oyster Bar, which I haven't visited since 2005.  Something of a disappointment with only one pump clip on, and the Sharp's Doom Bar had run out, so I had to put up with a pint of the black stuff.  This place used to be great for real ale, but sadly it seems to have gone downhill.  The presentable interior has changed little since the last time I was here.

The Pig and Whistle on Chapel Street used to be another gem but in 2005 it was unfortunately refurbished within an inch of its life.  Nonetheless, it remains a very pleasant, comfortable, friendly pub serving a spot on pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord.  On a grey Tuesday afternoon there were only a handful of customers, all of which knew the barmaid, and she invited them all to a party somewhere on Friday!

Prescot

A sunny autumn day, time for a trip to Prescot, where I started in Tommy Hall's, a compact two-sided boozer, partially knocked through, with a well cared for interior.  No real ale, so I had a pint of Guinness and watched a little of the early Saturday match, along with a number of cheerful locals.  My previous notes recorded this place as packed on a Saturday night, this time it was early Saturday afternoon and it was still pretty busy, although I had no trouble finding a seat.

The Royal Oak is much larger and retains two separate sides with no obvious access between.  The inside looks very traditional and appears to have been well refurbished recently, so it isn't easy to tell how much of the woodwork is old.  Less busy than Tommy Hall's but still doing a good trade.

Next, two closed pubs:  The Bath Springs is boarded up

... and The Crown is now The Crown of India!

The Red Lion Hotel was also busy with regulars watching the same football match as I had seen in Tommy Hall's, although this time, rather disconcertingly, on an Arabic TV channel.  The post match analysis consisted of a man in a suit speaking English (He looked like he might be a former player but I didn't recognise him.) and two Arabic men in traditional dress (Is it called a thobe?) speaking Arabic.

Another unexpected sight in here was the notice saying "NO STRANGERS ARE ALLOWED to PLAY ON FRUIT MACHINES SORRY!" - I wonder what that's about?  (This photo is from 2004, the others were taken today.)

Thatto Heath

A convenient coincidence meant I could do research for both my blogs (The other is Northwest Sparks News by the way.) at the same time, so I headed for some pubs in Thatto Heath, starting with a quick look at the Railway Hotel which has been closed for at least two years.  I had a drink in there in 1999 when it was a Greenalls pub.  In common with many of their outlets, it had a bowling green at the back.

Just a short walk round the corner to The Elephant, a rather imposing building containing a plain clean and tidy interior.  When I last visited, in 1999, this was a two bar pub but now it's been fully knocked through into one large L-shaped room, although one end still seems plainer than the other.  No real ale, so I had my usual pint of the black stuff.

Very close to the Elephant is the externally less impressive Vine Tavern.  Inside is a classic two-sided boozer with no access between the halves except via the gents.  The plain bar side had a cluster of cheerful regulars sitting at the bar whiling away a Friday afternoon.

The review from my previous visit grumbled that "The 'Cask Ales' sign would appear to be a lie".  I was surprised to discover the sign is still there and still wrong thirteen years later, so it was another pint of G.

Back to the station and, next door, the Springfield.  This impressive building contains a large two bar pub pleasantly decorated inside, with dark wood panelling on the bar front.  In the plain bar side a couple of regulars were playing pool, and there were one or two more customers in the lounge end I think.  The trophy cabinet was well filled.  Again, no decent ale so it was yet another Guinness.  (This picture was taken in 2010.)

All three pubs were ticking over on a sunny Friday afternoon, a little surprising considering they're located within 1/4 mile of each other.  They all had the "local pub for local people" feel, where everyone in the pub (except me) knew each other, but they seemed to have no objection to a stranger coming in and jotting in a notebook.  All three were last visited in 1999, so long overdue for an update!

Sunny Bromborough

A sunny Saturday, so time for a jaunt across the water, via the refurbished Central Station.  How many million pounds?  For a few white tiles and some white paint?  On the plus side I was very pleased to note that the toilets have been expanded and are still free, these are often useful on the homeward journey after a pub survey, and I object to paying 30p at Lime Street.

Anyway, on to Bromborough, round the corner and into the leafy suburbs, to the Dibbinsdale, a very pleasant looking pub/restaurant/hotel belonging to Thwaites Brewery.  The inside is good as well, with lots of wood panelling and leaded glass, some of which looks like it might be fairly new.  The place was deserted early on a Saturday afternoon, in fact by the time I was half way down my pint of Wainwright the other customers had all left.  Hopefully just a coincidence!

Next, back past the station to the Merebrook.  A nicely decorated pub in the "sizzling" chain, much busier than the Dibbinsdale - perhaps because the food is significantly cheaper.  Most of the other customers were families out for a meal.  I had a fine pint of Marston's EPA and watched the busy staff rushing about with plates of food.

My next destination was the Knockaloe.  The Hall was built in the 1850s and was donated to the council for the use of the community in the 1930s.  Later it was sold to Octel to be their staff sports and social club.  In 2006 it passed back to private hands and became a social club open to all.  As well as the popular bar there are function rooms, squash and tennis courts, football pitches, and so on.  I was a little concerned that the bar had been removed from the Good Beer Guide this year, but I needn't have worried, and I enjoyed a spot on pint of Tetley.  The other two real ales available were from the local Brimstage Brewery.

The final pub of the trip was something of a disappointment, and I seem to have arrived a few months too late for a drink in the Archers.

Never mind.  Three pubs never before visited taking the total to 1,140.  Time to head for home - Via the facilities at Central.

Toxteth Tour

On a sunny Thursday I took a trip to Toxteth to see how the pubs there have been getting on since my last visit, which was 2004 I think.

I began with a bus ride along Park Road, where I found the Royal Oak is now closed and tinned up, the Globe remains open, and then the Farmers, the Toxteth, the Royal George and the Queens Head are all closed, and in some cases gone without trace.   A little further along, the Pineapple is still open.  I've drunk in all these pubs at some time in the last fourteen years, it's a shame so many of them aren't there any more.

I headed down towards the river, passing the still open Anglesea, which is looking pretty tidy from the outside.

I paid a visit to the amazing Florence Institute, which was open as part of the Heritage Open Days scheme.  This stunning building, constructed in 1889 as Britain's first purpose-built boys’ youth club, was derelict last time I visited the area, in 2004, when I recall it had trees sprouting from the gutters.  It has been wonderfully restored and is once again in use as a community resource.

 Just across the road from the "Florrie" is a very tatty looking building, housing the Wellington Vaults, which rather to my surprise was open.  I joined two locals in the small front bar and enjoyed a pint of Guinness.  The inside was a lot tidier than the rather tatty exterior might suggest.
The Derby Arms and the Great Eastern were both near here, but are no longer extant.  Again, I've drunk in both in the past.

 Just a short walk riverwards took me to the wonderful Herculaneum Bridge, also known as Pegleg's.  Outside, a coat of white paint has replaced the somewhat garish blue and red colour scheme of my previous visit.  The interior, although a little chaotic during decorating work, is very impressive, with lots of ceramics on the walls and a fine wood and leaded glass bar back.  It retains the historic layout of rooms off a corridor served from a hatch at the back of the bar.  The large back room also has a tiny bar counter in the corner.

I was the only customer on a Thursday afternoon, sharing the bar with two friendly staff and a decorator.  They also do accommodation here, apparently it's very popular with visiting football fans.

I wandered on past the closed Mosely Arms, Clancy's which has completely disappeared, and Dick Jennings where the planned conversion to housing hasn't progressed.

My next destination was the Brewery Tap, nestled in the corner of the Cains' Brewery, where I enjoyed a fine pint of Cains' FA.  I noticed they limit their real ale offerings to their own brews now, I'm sure they used to have guest beers as well.  Sales were pretty slow, initially I was the only customer but a few others arrived to sit outside in the bright sunshine.

Finally, I strolled past the long closed Angel (pictured) and on to the Coburg.  Reports had reached me that this place now did real ale, and I was pleased to find Fuller's London Pride on sale in a comfortable, friendly pub.