Coopers

Those who have studied the Merseyside Pub Guide will already be aware of my fondness for Coopers on Cases Street, and as time goes on we can also add rarity to its attributes.

This tiny two-room boozer is always packed with happy drunks, no matter what time you go in. I was there on a recent Monday afternoon and just managed to squeeze in. The live singer was belting out an Abba song (Ten minutes later she was serving behind the bar.) No real ale any more, so I just stood in a corner with a pint of Guinness. and soaked up the atmosphere.

Truly a classic English boozer, you just don't find them like this any more.

Some years ago, when 24 hour licensing was being discussed, I suggested this would be the first 24/7 pub in Liverpool, and I can imagine it being just as lively with just as many drunks at five in the morning. That hasn't happened, in fact the whole 24 hour thing seems to have been a damp squib - Is there anywhere open all night?

Victoria Cross

Located at the junction of Victoria Street and Sir Thomas Street, this corner house has gone through a number of changes of style and name. It started as the New Court, but that was before my time, I think, as I never went there. As Ned Kelly's it was a fun plastic Australian bar, decorated with the inevitable stuffed crocodile and kangaroo (wearing boxing gloves). I didn't visit the short-lived Reuben's Bar, but recently I had a pint in the latest incarnation, The Victoria Cross. The Antipodean decor has gone, replaced by a pleasant plain interior. I was pleased to see four hand pumps on the bar, although three had the clips turned round. The fourth provided a mediocre pint of Bass.

Red Biddy

17 across in today's Times Crossword:
"Extremely cheap booze embarrassed old woman (3,5)". Easy peasy - it's Red Biddy.

This set me thinking, what exactly is Red Biddy? I vaguely remember it being on sale in Yates's Wine Lodges, but I never drank any. Google was unusually totally useless, suggesting a mixture of red wine and methylated spirits, which I don't think Yates's would be allowed to sell!

Actually, it would appear to be an Australian fortified red wine, the red equivalent of the more well known Aussie White, which I have enjoyed in Yates's on occasion.

Does anyone know if the modern tarted up Yates's still sell either of these?

Officers Mess

Blood donors again today (I hope they don't read this blog!) so a chance to check out a pub in town. This time I selected the Officers Mess on Victoria Street. It opened earlier this year, I believe, and I'm not sure what was in this building previously. I had it noted as a renaming of the Beaconsfield on the corner, but in fact it is a couple of doors down Victoria Street, and the Beaconsfield continues to operate.

Anyway, this afternoon I found a pleasant comfortable basement bar, sadly devoid of customers, serving a small range of real ales - I had Young's - and also offering a good selection of imported bottles. I wonder if they have the special glasses for the Kwak? The menu looks good, with traditional pub fare perhaps tending slightly up market. There's also a room upstairs which I didn't visit.

Updated Book Available

The 2011 edition of the book of the Merseyside Pub Guide has just been published. You can order a copy direct from the printers.

It has 217 pages of reviews and pictures, listing 1,748 pubs, all in a handy spiral-bound A5 book.

Go on, buy a copy and make my day!

Meeting My Waterloo

Yesterday was nice and sunny so I headed out for a research trip, to Waterloo. I emerged from the station to see the sad sight of the Alexandra closed and tinned up. I wandered down to the Volunteer Canteen, but unfortunately it was shut. Outside the Old Bank the sign promised local cask ales and indeed they had three from Liverpool One on tap. I enjoyed a pint of Kings Regiment. This pub has hardly changed since I visited in 1999, and once again I was the youngest customer. The walls are cluttered with music and football posters and memorabilia giving the place a slightly untidy appearance at first glance, but actually it is spotlessly clean, well maintained and comfortable.

My next call was at the fairly new Stamps Too where I found a long narrow one-roomed pub which manages to squeeze a stage for live music along one side. Six handpumps on the bar offering various unusual beers, I had a pint of the excellent Allgates' Citra.

At the top of South Road sits the splendid old building that is the Liver Hotel, another pub I haven't visited since '99. The interior is very pleasant. Real ales on offer were Tetley, Cains, and Black Sheep, and I chose the Tetley, a long term favourite of mine.

Next, round the corner to the Ferndale Lodge. A total contrast this one: Plain, down market and slightly scruffy; and no chance of real ale. Back in the late 90s there was a chain of pubs like this around Liverpool called Oak Lodges, all looking exactly the same. Some of them remain but there is no longer any sign of chain branding, so I don't know if they are still connected.

My final stop was in the Lion and Unicorn. Once again, little change in the ten or so years since I was last here: A large, open, pleasant enough one room boozer where I was a little surprised to find a choice of Greene King's IPA and Old Speckled Hen on hand pump. I chose the IPA for a change.

P.S. Did you know it was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who first used the phrase "To meet our Waterloo" in The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1909?

Closing Time

Closing Time is the title of an excellent book of photographs of closed Liverpool pubs taken by Kevin Casey. The wonderful shots of architectural gems and plain sheds in various states of decay certainly brought back some memories for me, and I recommend you take a look.

Of the eighty pubs featured, I have drunk in sixty-five, a figure I feel few could match!