Liverpool From Two Viewpoints

On our Liverpool trip on Saturday 12^th November, it was so popular that we had 67 people on board.  We received more than one article on the day’s events, so we have decided to use two varying contributions, with pictures from the CAMRA camera (including some not featured in the Leicester Drinker).

The Liverpool Pub Crawl

Saturday 12^th November saw Sarah and myself embark on our first ever trip, organised by Keith Satterly, to Liverpool to experience the beers on offer up there.

Although we have been members for several years, we had never had the opportunity until now to go on this kind of trip. We met other members in Humberstone Gate in plenty of time to board the coach.  Keith Satterly was there, ensuring everything went smoothly, although his mind may have been pre-occupied with the fact that it was also his Birthday (age not disclosed – but we believe somewhere in the 'Mid-Life Crisis' section).

We made good time and arrived in Liverpool at 11:15. Were dropped off at 'Paddy’s Wigwam' (Metropolitan Cathedral) along with others to embark on our crawl around Liverpool, by joining Sue Wilkins and Jan Stacey.

We were disappointed at first with finding the first 6-7 pubs on our map all not opening until 12 noon. We eventually found 'The Globe' in the city centre open and entered to begin the quest for the beers of the region. They had four real ales on offer, our first beer was Exmoor Stallion which we found to our satisfaction and also reasonable at £1-10 a half-pint. After sampling this and talking with some of the locals, we moved on to our second pub, 'The Crown'.

This pub had a selection of five 'Real Ales' on offer, including the local brews from Cain’s Brewery and several guest ales. We tried the Bath Brewery Festivity at 5%, also Cain’s Bitter at 4%, and found both of them to our taste. It was while here that we considered a spot of lunch, the menu being varied and good value, but we elected to carry on to our next hostelry as we had 28 pubs marked on our map of Liverpool, and only 6 hours to get as far as we could.

We next moved on to the 'Head of Steam', located within Lime Street Railway Station, and in here we found 7 'Real Ales' on offer for us to sample and a real Cider. We all elected to go for different beers, with myself having Archer's Ghost Train and Sarah going for Old Bear Honeypot. I really enjoyed the Ghost Train but Sarah was not keen on the Honeypot.

After these Sarah went for Phoenix Brewery Flash Flood while I went for Westons Scrumpy Cider at 7.3%. By now we were all enjoying ourselves and perhaps getting a little merry, as we decided to move on to the next pub on our list, 'Doctor Duncan's', only 5 minutes staggering distance away.

'Doctor Duncan's' is a Cain’s Brewery Pub with the full range on offer and at very reasonable prices. In here we went for the Cain’s Raison and followed with Cain’s 2008 (their Special Brew to support the City’s push for City of Culture in 2008).  Again, two very well kept beers which we all enjoyed thoroughly in very pleasant and relaxed surroundings.

By now time was rushing on and we moved on to the 'White Star' in the centre of Liverpool just as the heavens opened. In here, we went for Bowland Brewery Golden Glow and the Pale Ale. What could we say, except another two very nice beers in a pub dedicated to the history of the White Star Line, owners of the ill-fated Titanic.

It was now getting close to pick up time with the coach, so we sadly made our way towards the pick up point next to the Adelphi Hotel, calling in quickly to 'The Globe' again for a final drink of Buckley's Best Bitter.

Once back on the coach we all expressed our enjoyment of the day and the excellent range of pubs and beers that had been available. We were then able to rest until we reached our stopping off point on the way back, the 'Old Bear Brewery Tap' in Congleton, to taste further beers on offer.

We arrived back in Leicester at 9:40pm and after saying our goodbyes to Keith Satterly, thanking him for an excellent trip, we made our way home, not forgetting to pick up our 2 ½ year old daughter on the way from Sarah’s nan's. We must say a thank you to her for looking after Louise for the day and giving us the opportunity of going on our first 'Real Ale' trip out of Leicester.

Now we have recovered we can’t wait for the next extended trip and hope that we can return to Liverpool in the summer so we can spend longer getting to the pubs we missed out on this time round.

Richard & Sarah Bailey.

Liverpool Beer Hunter

Saturday 12^th November 2005 saw the latest Leicester CAMRA adventure, this time with a trip to Liverpool organised by Keith Satterly and timed nicely to be his birthday bash as well. A large amount of bookings saw this popular drinking city get invaded with over 60 thirsty Leicestershire beer hunters, arriving in style on a double-decker coach from Ausden Clark coaches.

Setting off from Leicester just after 0830, we made good progress and even managed a refreshment stop (non-alcoholic) at Knutsford Services on the M6 before arriving in Liverpool at 1120. The drop-off points were, The Metropolitan Cathedral, which is home to the Liverpool Beer Festival every February, and Wapping for the Baltic Fleet

My aim for the day was to find some of the better historical pubs in Liverpool, plenty of microbrewery beers, hopefully from the North West and have a real good pub-crawl. Armed with a very comprehensive map of Liverpool, in a plastic wallet as well, in case it rained (Keith thinks of everything!) with all the good pubs highlighted, it wasn’t long before people were heading in all directions.

Arriving early at 11.20 it was noted that most pubs didn’t open until 1200. A tactical move saw about a dozen of us walk straight to the 'Everyman Bistro', Hope Street, to their downstairs bar. A couple of Cain's beers featured, Bitter and Raison, also Copper Dragon Golden Pippin. We were the first drinkers in there and the quality was very good - all in all, a good start.

A quarter of an hour later and the beer hunters decided to head for 'Ye Cracke' on Rice Street. This is described as difficult to find but we made light of this and we were on the doorstep a minute before opening time. Here we found a fantastic pub with several small rooms including the 'War Office'. On tap were Phoenix Oak Best and Wobbly Bob along with York Terrier, Beartown Ginger Bear and Fullers Trafalgar Ale. We tried different brews between us and all were good.

Back down the road slightly, to an amazing pub, 'The Philharmonic'. This place reminded me of some of the old British Transport Hotels, particularly the Royal in York. It is divided up into five areas with the Vaults Bar and Grande Lounge to name two. The beer choice was not so good with mainly larger breweries represented. I tried Roosters Eagle Eye which was good. Other beers were from Everards, Greene King, Adnams and Bass. A visit to the toilet is recommended in the GBG so it was duly checked out. The smell wasn’t very interesting though!

With a couple more pubs very close by we went into 'The Flute' next, which is in the 2006 GBG. We did however walk straight out again as it no longer sells real ale.

Another short walk further down Hardman Street brought us to the 'Fly in the Loaf'. This is an Okell's pub and reminded me of the Hogshead style pub. A good selection of beers in here with Holdens Special, Milk Street  Autumn Moon, Ossett Déjà Vu, Oakham JHB, Fullers ESB and Trafalgar, Okells Bitter and Castletown Bitter. Various beers were tried by our group with no complaints, the guest beers all being £2.20 a pint.  

At some point we were intending to go to the 'Baltic Fleet' in Wapping but we discovered it was closed, much to the annoyance of the people who stayed on the coach to start with and then had a long walk!

Another short walk and we found the 'Roscoe Head'. This pub has appeared in every GBG and you can see why. Slightly off the beaten track and forgotten by time the pub has four small rooms. It also had a good beer selection with guests - Exmoor Silver Stallion, Hop Back Red Devil, Windsor Castle Stumbling Badger, with regulars Jennings Bitter and Tetleys Mild. Again all beers sampled were good, not a bad beer so far.

Again, another short walk brought us to 'The Dispensary'. This is a Cain’s pub and had a selection of 5 Cain’s beers. The guest was Hop Back Summer Lightning. As I said earlier, my aim was for microbrewery beers, so I left.

Another short walk and we found 'The Swan' on Wood St. A very nice leaded-light front window and a loud, smoky, dimly lit pub inside with a rock jukebox. I had no problems with this nor the beer range, which was interesting. Hanby Cherry Bomb, Bridge of Allan Bramble, Moor Merlins Magic, Phoenix Best Bitter and Wobbly Bob along with Theakstons Old Peculiar. The Bridge of Allan was sampled.   

The next pub was a good walk and the map was very handy. We seemed to be walking against the crowds of shoppers in Church Street. However, tucked away just inside Rainford Gardens we found 'The White Star'. A fantastic pub similar to what I have seen in Manchester and Stockport with a large centre bar at the front and a very comfortable back room adorned with plaques of the names of the Beatles. This pub had four beers from the Bowland Brewery – Golden Glow, Fair & Tender Lady, White Star IPA and a King Vrata Bonfire Elixur. The pub also had Deuchars IPA. All of the Bowland beers were sampled and all were very good. 

By now time was getting on and we still had not had anything to eat. I had intended to go to 'Thomas Rigbys'. This is the other Okells pub in Liverpool. It is not as good as 'The Fly in the Loaf' in my opinion, but the food is absolutely superb. I had the steak and Okells ale pie and there was so much meat in it I couldn’t eat it all. Great value at £5.95. Beers were Roosters Oyster Stout, Okells Bitter and Castletown, Felinfoel Double Dragon.

Just around the corner, opposite Liverpool Exchange Station, we found, in my opinion, the best pub of the day 'The Lion Tavern', Moorfields. This Grade II listed building is a real gem with some amazing tiles around the walls and beautiful woodwork. The beers were pretty good as well, with Wapping Tabley Mild, Summer Ale and Wapping Bitter, joined by Lees Bitter and Deuchars IPA. The Tabley Mild was tried and this was rated a 5, the highest score under the CAMRA scoring system.  

Time was now running out fast and still full from that heavy meal at Rigbys, I was hoping to at least try 2 or 3 at the last pub of the trip 'The Ship & Mitre'. This is a “tickers” pub to some extent with 12 beers on from microbreweries and one I have frequented many times. I only tried Old Bear Black Maria which amazingly also scored a 5 and Weetwood Ambush. It was impossible to decide which was the best between Black Maria and the Tabley Mild. 

By now it was after 5pm and we had to walk back to The Adelphi Hotel to get the coach. It was a great day and we kept bumping into people from the trip in various pubs all day. Everyone had had a fair few drinks and most were left amazed at the quality of the pubs and the architecture that has survived the test of time. Where did it all go wrong in Leicester? We don’t seem to have anything like it.

Our final pub was the 'Beartown Tap' in Congleton. This is home to the Beartown Brewery and a fine selection of beers was on the bar. We met up with a local CAMRA branch official who took us round the corner to the Leisure Centre which is run part-time by a postman. On the bar were Evan Evans Bishops Revenge, Loddon Pint and a Blackwater beer that is brewed by Salopian. This is a fine bar in a busy leisure centre.

So that was that, another fantastic day out enjoyed by all. We managed to sing happy birthday to Keith on the way home, much to his embarrassment and he wore his birthday badge all day. So here’s to the next Beer Hunter's adventure!

Thanks also to our driver, Mark from Ausden Clark for a safe and pleasant journey.

Andy Sales.

This page last updated: April 15, 2011

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