Preparations for a day leading a CAMRA group to Wirral pubs included drawing a rough map and checking public transport for an itinerary.
Breakfast with unlimited coffee at the
Lime Kiln (Wetherspoon) allowed our group to sit together and agree to catch the 11am Mersey ferry from Liverpool's Pier Head.
Everyone was advised to visit the shop next to the entrance to nearby Liverpool Central station. The shop sells reloadable Merseytravel
Walrus cards (£1) and a
Saveaway all areas day ticket (£5.40) loaded onto the card includes ferry crossings, railway and bus travel in Liverpool and the Wirral.
After breakfast I had time for a brief visit to the
Double Fantasy - John & Yoko - an exhibition on the top floor of the impressive new
Museum of Liverpool, near the Pier Head.
We enjoyed views towards Liverpool and Birkenhead from the '
Dazzle Ferry' Snowdrop as it crossed the river Mersey.
Sir Peter Blake designed the artwork for 'Everybody Razzle Dazzle'. As this crossing was part of the
River Explorer Cruise it included a commentary and the inevitable sound of '
Ferry Cross the Mersey' by Gerry & the Pacemakers.
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| Woodside: Jon Gadd with CAMRA group by an historic submarine |
We were allowed to stay on the ferry from Seacombe ferry terminal to Woodside ferry terminal where it is only a short walk to Birkenhead's Hamilton Square station.
We passed the closed Pier Hotel, once owned by Birkenhead Brewery, the brewers of Peerless ales and stout.
A 27 minute train journey took us from the underground platform at Hamilton Square to the terminus at West Kirby. Having come this far, we made a slight detour to gain a view across the Dee estuary to Wales and to see Hilbre island, accessible on foot at low tide over the dunes.
West Kirby Tap
The West Kirby Tap was only five minutes walk from the coastal viewpoint.
A board behind the bar has eight slots for strips of blackboard chalked with changing cask ale details.
The bar is on the left and a wood burning stove is on the right of the large room with an exposed roof space above. Blackboards have details of food, gin and events. The floor is formed of squares of polished concrete.
My first beer was
Spitting Feathers Thirst Quencher, a 3.9% ABV pale ale. The first Spitting Feathers Brewery Tap opened in Chester in 2008. The West Kirby Tap opened in 2014. The friendly staff looked after us well and the wood burner made this part of the room cosy.
Wall-mounted candle holders and wood panelling are among other design features to give the large space some character.
Before leaving I enjoyed a
Triple Blond by
Peerless Brewing from Birkenhead. Typically for this part of the country, the beer takes a while to clear after being served through a sparkler. The 4% ABV beer is brewed with wheat, lager and pale malts and hopped with Admiral, First Gold and Cascade to give a citrus finish.
The size of our group now halved as Jon Gadd would lead some to West Kirby's micropub, the
Homebrew Tap where cask and keg beers were available. Our core group caught the next train back over the flat countryside as far as Birkenhead North. Crossing to the other platform by the footbridge we then caught the New Brighton train to its terminus.
A mermaid combing her hair on the corner of Atherton Street and Victoria Road was a surreal surprise! An information board names her as the Inked Siren of Black Rock, the second mermaid in an unusual
trail.
The Bow-Legged Beagle
In a change from the mapped itinerary after new information of a micropub in New Brighton, we continued along Victoria Road until we reached the
Bow-Legged Beagle at number 88.
A 'contemporary timber' look inside with exposed filament light bulbs.
A tall beer fridge contains tall (440ml) beer cans from
Loka Polly, Top Rope and
Neptune Brewery.
I enjoyed cask
American Dream, dry hopped with Citra, from Liverpool's
Top Rope Brewing.
The Stage Door Tap
From here, it was downhill to sea level where we found the
Stage Door Tap bar of the
Queen's Royal hotel. The Stage Door has six cask ale taps and bar food is available every day.
By now it was almost 3pm but we were still able to take advantage of the bar food menu in comfortable and friendly surroundings.
Later, the 'stragglers' from West Kirby caught up with us here and found space on high tables at the other end of the room.
Framed photos comprising the 'all star gallery' adorn the walls of the Stage Door Tap.
The beer I enjoyed here was
Hawkshead Iti, a 3.5% ABV NZ Pale Ale named after the Maori word for little and served in good condition.
Before leaving, the Stage Door's lovely Vicky humoured me by posing with a copy of
Ullage, the
West Berkshire CAMRA magazine, that I had brought with me to leave at the pubs we visited.
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| New Brighton lighthouse and Fort Perch Rock |
From the Stagedoor Tap, I led one group to walk along the promenade to the Magazine Hotel while another group would head to the
Lazy Landlord micropub by bus.
Immediately we noticed the
New Brighton Lighthouse (also known as Perch Rock Lighthouse and called Black Rock Lighthouse in the 19th century) which is near to
Fort Perch Rock built in the 1820's to protect the port of Liverpool.
About ten minutes later, after turning south to follow the west bank of the river Mersey we noticed the
Black Pearl pirate ship / play project.
The Magazine Hotel
After about another ten minutes walk we reached the
Magazine Hotel, set back from the promenade and in an elevated position.
A hat tip to Good Beer Guide blogger
Martin Taylor who messaged me from
@NHS_Martin on Twitter recommending a visit to the Magazine 'a Bass stronghold!'.
However, I chose a 'LocAle' pint from the other permanent cask ale on the bar -
Brimstage Brewery Trapper's Hat. Taking advantage of the CAMRA discount, a pint cost £2.88.
The front bar has an unobstructed view across the river Mersey towards Bootle and Liverpool.
Knowing that Martin appreciates beer glass lacings as well as Bass I took a photo for this blog post with his readership in mind.
Music playing at the Magazine on this visit included Human by the Killers.
The Magazine is a multi-room pub but one additional photo which shows the bar must suffice for this post.
The light had gone from the sky when we left in time to catch the (last) 5.30pm bus (106) from Magazine Brow, opposite the Pilot Boat pub to Liscard. We decided to forego a visit to the Lazy Landlord and instead caught a second bus from Liscard to Woodside Interchange, our arrival point on the Wirral from the morning ferry.
Gallaghers Traditional Pub
From here it was only a three minute walk to
Gallaghers Traditional Pub at 20 Chester Street, Birkenhead. The moustachio'd face on the pub sign references its former dual purpose role as a pub that included a barbers shop.
The frontage may be narrow but the pub stretches back a long way inside with two steps up to the bar area which is situated half way along.
Interestingly, the pub is decorated with bunting and a variety of naval and military uniforms, pictures and paraphernalia.
As grapefruit flavours appeal to me, I enjoyed a pint of
Salopian Brewery Hop Twister (£3.30) here.
Glen Affric Brewery & Taproom
We left at 7.30pm to walk to
Glen Affric Brewery & Taproom, less than ten minutes further up Chester Street.
Unlike Gallaghers Traditional Pub, Glen Affric was brightly lit inside.
There were no cask ales but a range of twelve Glen Affric beers served from a tap wall.
Faced with this wide choice it was easy to choose Hop Projections, a New England IPA, my current favourite style with low bitterness (20 IBU). For a 6.5% ABV beer this was reasonably priced at £3.75 for 2/3 pint. Music played in the Taproom appropriately included R.E.M. Shiny Happy People.
Thanks to tankard, I was privileged to be invited to join a table in a booth next to the brewery with Trevor McCormick and learn more about the family brewery that also involves his sons Craig and Calum and wife Alison.
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| Trevor McCormick (Photo: tankard) |
I passed Trevor a copy of Ullage magazine mentioning that if features
Wild Weather based in the West Berkshire CAMRA branch area. Trevor kindly offered a brief impromptu tour of the Glen Affric brewery and tankard and Mark were keen to take up his offer which included a look at the whisky barrels to be used for barrel aged beers.
After the tour we were also treated to a taster of some freshly canned beers - Payload Pale and Atomic Orange.
I had noticed that there was a Wild Weather /
Elusive Brewing beer - Led Balloon - in one of the fridges at the Taproom. Some prior Facebook research had also showed that Iain Clarke of Wild Weather had been on a panel of brewers with Glen Affric's Angus Morrison at the #UKBeerDebate held at
Green Duck Beer Co in Stourbridge on 2 December 2018.
Tornado Top Hat (banana split hefeweizen) and Thunder Trilby (grapefruit sour IPA) are previous Wild Weather / Mad Hatter Brewing Co collaboration beers. Angus Morrison was head brewer at Mad Hatter until October 2018 when it closed.
It was a pleasure to be introduced to Angus who is now Head Brewer at Glen Affric brewery later in the evening. Angus is an afficionado of Belgian beers and recommended a visit to
Het Anker in Mechelen. In turn, I suggested a visit to
Hof ten Dormaal.
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| Ss Brewtech pilot kit and Angus Morrison (Photo: Mark Geeson) |
(In the months after this visit, Iain Clarke and Mike Tempest of Wild Weather would brew a collaboration passionfruit and mango sour beer at Glen Affric Brewery on 1 March 2019.)
A visit to Birkenhead's
Stork Hotel had earlier been mooted but based on the latest reports from some who had visited the ornate pub before arriving at Glen Affric we decided instead to head back to Liverpool at 9.15pm.
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| Birkenhead Town Hall, eastern end of Hamilton Square |
The Baltic Fleet
Our walking route from the taproom to Hamilton Square station was via
Hamilton Square, the Georgian square that boasts the most Grade 1 listed buildings outside London (Trafalgar Square).
We caught a train under the river Mersey to James Street, the next station. From here we walked south, passing Salthouse and Wapping docks, to the
Baltic Fleet at 33a Wapping.
The Baltic Fleet's unusual unusual triangular shape, with a curved apex facing north, provides plenty of windows.
It was busy inside but we found tables on the east side of the central bar near a warming stove.
My pint of Commando, from Southport's
Parker Brewery was even better value when the CAMRA discount was applied (£3 pint).
Note the Northern style creamy head and appearance of the beer just after it had been pulled through a sparkler for dispense.
The Baltic Fleet was a good final pub of the evening where the knowledgeable bar staff were happy to answer our questions and provide information about local breweries.
At closing time we only had a ten minute walk from here back to our hotel.
