Liverpool 2024 - revisits

 

It was nice to meet up with friends in Liverpool in January 2024 and visit some of the best pubs in the city.

A separate post will cover a taproom and pubs visited for the first time while this post only includes revisits, in chronological order.

Peter Kavanagh's

Just off a main bus route along Catharine Street (75, 80, 86A etc) Peter Kavanagh's is situated at 2-6 Egerton Street.

The pub is listed in CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and start with the distinctive entrance. The oversized door bars marked 'Push' and 'Pull' are also a feature on internal doors.

A Monday lunchtime visit (22/1/2024) allowed our group to occupy a small room on the right of the entrance at the front. The original circular tables incorporate a central sunken ash tray section.

A similar sized room on the right, just beyond the bar, at the back, features several bulky old radios.

As well as old radios, a central area at the front of the pub also features two old bicycles.

Cask ales on the bar included Blueberry Hill (Porter - Big Bog Brewing Co, Speke, Liverpool) and White Rat (Ossett Brewery, West Yorkshire). The total charge for Tim's half pint of Blueberry porter and Meg's half pint of lime and soda was £2.85. 

N.B. Due to medication affecting Tim's taste on this trip there are no tasting notes in this post.

A separate post includes The Belvedere where our group stayed for a while on the way to the Roscoe Head.

The Roscoe Head

Having left the Belvedere before the main group, Jon and Dennis were settled in at The Roscoe Head, 24 Roscoe Street, when we arrived. The barman coped admirably with our influx and wishes to pay individually. With a £5 minimum card payment some cash payments were required. Tim chose Porteresque (Milkshake Porter, Hophurst Brewery, Wigan) from the six cask ales on the blackboard. The pumpclips on the bank of three handpumps on the adjacent bar were turned around so that they are also visible from the main bar.

Jon, Dennis, Mark and Les are visible in this photo (left to right). The fire in our room was not lit and there was a cold draught. 

Closing the window improved the ambience, especially for those under it like Bod and Steve! This is a classic pub with reliable beer and the only Northern pub to have been included in every edition of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. After some discussion it was decided to move on to the recently opened White Hart / Engineer with an entrance at 23 Hope Street. After a subsequent visit to Doctor Duncan's, facing St John's Gardens near Lime Street station, we walked down Dale Street for a visit to the Vernon Arms, previously visited on a January Sunday in 2019.

The Vernon Arms

Fondly remembered for its sloping floor it was a pleasure to revisit the Vernon Arms quite late on a Monday night and find a good space for our group at the foot of the slope!

Mark was on his phone again but so was I to take this photo of him and Les with a backdrop of the Manet painting - A bar at the Folies-Bergere - that includes bottles of Bass. My half pint here (centre of table) was Zenith - The IPA (Cross Bay Brewing, Morecambe). Despite the late hour, there was no hurry to close up and later an easy downhill walk from here back to our hotel.

The Lion Tavern

We approached the Lion Tavern indirectly via Eberle Street and stopped to get a photo of a mural there. It was raining and at this point a couple of young Liverpudlians offered us the gift of an umbrella but we politely declined. The most direct approach is via Moorfields with an entrance at Number 67.

This was the one pub that I was determined to revisit on this trip was the Lion Tavern, near Moorfields station. I had brought along a spare copy of Ullage magazine which included a photo of landlord Dave Hardman taken on my 2022 visit. The article also mentions the corresponding Beer Europe blog post. With the rest of the group having departed by Tuesday afternoon, this would be the last pub in Liverpool visited by Meg and I for a beer on this trip.

Although Dave was not at the pub on Tuesday evening Tim was able to give the Ullage magazine to Mark, behind the bar, for him to pass on. The regular and guest cask ales and cider are described on a board under the clock and behind the bar where a 'Total eclipse of the S*n' poster is also on display.

Tim's first half pint was the regular mild - Moorfields Mild (Liverpool Brewing Co). The pub has many interesting design features including wall tiles, mosaic floor and etched windows. The Lion Tavern is included in CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pubs.

Finding the conversation level in the main public bar on the loud side we later moved from our high table under the clock to a table in the back lounge which has a jukebox and a distinctive skylight.

The jukebox has several unique discs including 'Proper 70's' with Alison - Elvis Costello as track 1 and 'Liverpool Classics' with Dreaming of You -The Coral as track 1.

Other Classic Liverpool selections include Valerie - The Zutons and Ferry Cross the Mersey - Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Other revisited pubs

We had planned to find food from One Pan Band at the Ship & Mitre on Monday when Doctor Duncan's kitchen was closed but didn't even venture inside when we saw the blackboard in the entrance of the Ship & Mitre showing Monday - closed.

Instead we headed to the North Western (JDW), part of Lime Street station with a side entrance from Lord Nelson Street to a high-ceilinged room that includes some booth seating.

On a visit to the Gents, Tim appreciated the design of the inevitable stairs and stopped to look at some railway related graphic displays nearby.

On a wet Tuesday morning, tankard's choice of the Crown Hotel, at 43 Lime Street, on the south side of Lime Street station, for a breakfast rendezvous had to be changed as the pub no longer serves breakfast. 

However, there was a chance to briefly appreciate the interior decoration including a fireplace before moving across the road to The Richard John Blackler (JDW) on Great Charlotte Street for breakfast. 

The pub is on the ground floor of a building on the site of Blacklers department store. The store opened in 1908 and was rebuilt after World War II, reopening in 1955. 'The Slave Trade' and 'The abolition of the slave trade' are two of several framed displays inside the pub.

We only drank coffee here but noticed that local breweries were represented on the bar by Peerless Brewing Co of Birkenhead and Wily Fox Brewery of Wigan.

Beer Europe posts about previous visits to the above pubs can be found using the blog's search bar (web version) at the top left of the screen.

This post complements a Liverpool 2024 - first visits post mainly featuring Azvex Brewing Co Taproom, The Belvedere, The White Hart / The Engineer, Doctor Duncan's and Ma Egerton's Stage Door.

Liverpool 2019 - Sunday 13 January

Day 3 in Liverpool and a third (later) breakfast at the Lime Kiln with welcome free refills of coffee as provided by Wetherspoon pubs. Once again our CAMRA group took over the front area of the ground floor.

The distant building, in the photo above, is McCooley's, facing Concert Square.

The Ship & Mitre

After breakfast, a 15 minute walk led us to the Ship & Mitre in Dale Street, which opens at 10am on Sundays. The corner pub, opposite the Mersey Tunnel entrance, stands out with its art deco style and cream and blue colour scheme.

After posting a photo of the pub, once owned by Bent's Brewery, from my Twitter account some replies from beer writers followed (above) with an explanation that 'Bents' used to be part of the signage - between Ales and Stouts.

A group was leaving just as we arrived so we were able to secure the slightly raised area at the front corner of the Ship & Mitre. We liked the pub, service and beers so much that we would remain here for three hours!

As a change from my favoured pale ale style, a pint of Jar porter by Flagship Beer was an introduction to the Ship & Mitre's own beers which are cuckoo brewed on a 4 barrel kit. The 4.7% ABV Jar is brewed with spicy rye and roasted malts.

There was time for a chat with Tom Anderson on a subsequent visit to the bar and Tom posed with one of my last copies of West Berkshire CAMRA's Ullage magazine.

Tom mentioned that apart from his work at the pub he is also the brewer / owner of Tyton brewery based in Ainsdale, Southport. Tom knows Angus Morrison, now Head Brewer at Birkenhead's Glen Affric Brewery, from his brewing training. Tom is naming Tyton's beers after owls e.g. Tawny and Morepork.

My next beer was a half pint of Flagship Lupa, dry with citrus peel flavours, brewed with Syrian Wolf hops and costing £1.50.

It was also nice to meet Kurt Watson, the Ship & Mitre's manager. Kurt is originally from Basildon in Essex but liked Liverpool and its people so much while he was a student in the city that he stayed on.

Petra, on keg, from Flagship Beer was my third and favourite beer at the Ship & Mitre. The 4% ABV Citrus Hefe-Weiss cost £1.50 for 1/3 pint. The pub's beer menu lists 37 German bottled beers and other European keg and bottled beers are also available reflecting its claim to be the 'home of the largest drinks range in Liverpool'.

Home cooked food is available all day from the Galley including their famous Scouse.

Thanks must go to tankard for generously ordering a jug of Silhouett by Flagship Beer so that we could all taste it before moving on. Kurt delivered and poured the 4.5% ABV dry Irish stout for us. He was about to finish his shift at the pub and confided in us that his staff had been asking him if he was bipolar because he was being so nice to everyone! Evidence suggests that the Ship & Mitre's claim to be 'where you'll receive great service from friendly and knowledgeable staff' is fully borne out!

 Before leaving we explored other parts of the spacious pub and noted the blackboard with a diagram showing 'How is beer made?'.

The view from the other side of the partition wall with the blackboard reveals that the rear area is also raised and surrounded by brass rails.

The Excelsior

Leaving the pub at 2.45pm, it was less than a minute's walk west from the Ship & Mitre, past an office block, to the Excelsior also in Dale Street.

This was another deep and spacious pub but more plushly decorated with curtains and ornamental lamps. We found an area where we could sit together by the etched windows. The text on the wall is similar to the opening lines from Roger McGuinn's Liverpool Gals including

'And it's row, row

   bullies row

         Those Liverpool Judies

        have got us in tow'

My beer here was a favourite - Salopian Lemon Dream (£1.75 1/2 pint), a 4.5% ABV pale golden ale brewed using organic lemons. The Everton v Bournemouth football match was screened on a TV and the game would end with a 2-0 win for Everton, whose Goodison Road ground is 2 1/2 miles north.

Leaving the pub at 3.45pm we passed the impressive Liverpool City Council offices on our 3 minute walk further west down Dale Street to the Vernon Arms.

The Vernon Arms

On the corner with Vernon Street, the Vernon Arms only has a narrow frontage on Dale Street.

Our group occupied the round tables in main central area inside, opposite the long bar. The football match was also being screened here. Unusually there is a sloping floor.

A range of seven cask ales at the bar of the free house included Windmill Brewery Taonga, an 'Ultra Pale Ale'.

There is a framed plan of Liverpool and Birkenhead docks on an end wall, under a clock. Framed Édouard Manet prints on other walls include Olympia, Luncheon on the Grass and Un Bar aux Folies Bergère (with its bottles of Bass identified by the red triangle trademark).

Leaving the pub at 4.45pm, we passed the Royal Insurance Building, now the Aloft hotel. The illuminated frieze, designed by C. J. Allen, depicts themes relating to insurance.

We also passed Thomas Rigby's on Dale Street before turning north into Hackins Hey and passing the Lady of Mann just before entering Ye Hole In Ye Wall.

Ye Hole In Ye Wall

Proceeding to the bar of Ye Hole In Ye Wall, known as Liverpool's oldest pub, there is evidence of stained and leaded glass panels.

With a choice of six cask ales, I opted for Red Star Brewery Formby IPA. 

The 4% ABV session IPA with a hint of elderflower is hopped with Cascade and New Zealand hops. 

Once again, our group was able to find a convenient place to sit together in an area with upholstered seats and wood panelling above. 

As GBG pub bloggers like Martin Taylor and Simon Everitt sometimes include photos of unusual signs for toilet facilities, I couldn't resist taking a photo of the elegant sign used for the Gents at Ye Hole In Ye Wall. At 5.45pm there was a consensus that we should find somewhere for a meal. We were turned away at the first place we tried 'not enough room' and I joined a splinter group that would head for Peter Kavanagh's while most would continue the search for a restaurant in the Moorfields area.

With Liverpudlian Tony in my small group, we headed via pedestrian Mathew Street in the Cavern Quarter to the Elliot Street bus stop, opposite the The Richard John Blackler (Wetherspoon). 

Peter Kavanagh's

An 86 bus took us uphill to Catharine Street for £2.30 and then it was only three minutes walk to Peter Kavanagh's on a corner of Egerton Street. The bar is festooned with unusual objects and there are hand pumps for three cask ales - Black Sheep Resolution,  The Mobberley Brewhouse Boom Juice and Hook Norton Cold Turkey on our visit. Payment is by cash only.

We took our drinks into one of the bar areas near where a variety of radios were suspended from the ceiling. Another splinter group, that included Rachel, was already here so we joined them until they departed. A ukulele group was playing and one of the songs performed was Homeward Bound. Tony mentioned that Paul Simon wrote this song while waiting for a train back to London station at Widnes station after a performance in Liverpool. 

Decor in another area of the pub includes a bicycle and a poster for the Liverpool Overhead Railway.
My plan was to call in at the Grapes where jazz music is played on a Sunday night but Tony's route did not allow for this so we arrived instead at the Head of Steam in Hanover Street at 8.45pm.

The Head of Steam

My first beer at the Head of Steam was Fab Four a 4.4% ABV 'Liverpool IPA' brewed by Rock the Boat Brewery. The four 'sensational UK hops' used are Admiral, Flyer, Cascade and Target.

More from our group joined us later bringing our numbers up from three to ten.

My last cask beer of the day was Sanctuary by Camerons Brewery of Hartlepool. (Camerons owns the 15 strong Head of Steam chain of pubs).

Sanctuary is a permanent ale from Cameron's Anchor brand and is a 3.8% ABV pale ale dry hopped with Citra hops. After four days of exploring the pubs of the Liverpool area it was finally time to say goodbye to my CAMRA friends and head back to the nearby hotel. Cheers!