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 - Thursday 10 January

After a train journey from Newbury, with the weather turning misty from Birmingham, it was no surprise to find that the top of Liverpool's Radio City Tower (138 metres) was barely visible.

The Crown Hotel

After checking into my hotel on Hanover Street, opposite BBC Radio Merseyside, and buying a pair of gloves and a beanie hat to compensate for inadequate preparation, I returned to the Lime Street Station area to met up with Mark Geeson and friends at the Crown Hotel.

'Bod' and Mark at the Crown Hotel

Mark and the 'Farnham Travel' group had arrived earlier after spending two days visiting pubs and breweries in Burton upon Trent. The Coopers Tavern and the Tower Brewery were highlights of their trip.
The group had enjoyed good value lunches at the Crown before my arrival and were also happy with the beer quality. I enjoyed Hobsons Town Crier, from Shropshire, here.

Ian, the friendly landlord, explained to us that the award winning Siren Craft Brew Broken Dream breakfast stout had been specially obtained to cater for a CAMRA meeting at the pub later in the evening. Copies of MerseyAle, the magazine of Liverpool & District CAMRA, are available from the pub.

The Crown Hotel is spacious and has a comfortable feel with many interesting features.

From here we walked south east along Renshaw Street. Looking up, at the junction with Ranelagh Street, Sir Jacob Epstein's 1956 sculpture 'Liverpool Resurgent' on Lewis's (closed) store stands out on a prow. Known by locals as Dickie Lewis, the statue stands above a meeting place referenced in a song 'In My Liverpool Home' by Peter McGovern:
   "We speak with an accent exceedingly rare, 
    Meet under a statue exceedingly bare"

The Dispensary

We soon reached The Dispensary, at the junction with Oldham Street.

After a strong recommendation from a local at the bar, most people ordered White Rat from the Rat microbrewery which is situated under the Rat & Ratchet pub in Huddersfield.

I indulged in a favourite beer - Titanic Plum Porter served with a thick creamy head.

I also enjoyed the very pale White Rat as my second beer in the pleasant surroundings of the Dispensary which includes a variety of old enamel signs including 'Liverpool - Drive With Care' passed on the way to the Gents toilets.

The enamel signs even continue into the Gents!

The Roscoe Head

On leaving the pub we continued along Renshaw Street until the junction at St Luke's bombed out church where we turned left into Leece Street and found the Roscoe Head just around the corner into Roscoe Street.

The Roscoe Head is renowned as one of only five pubs that have appeared in every edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide since it was first published in 1974. It's a cosy traditional pub with four rooms. Six cask ales are listed on the blackboard by the bar. My choice was American 5 Hop pale ale from Sheffield's Blue Bee Brewery.

The Fly in the Loaf

Although only 50 metres further east along Leece Street, our next destination would be very different. Derived from the 'No flies in the loaf' slogan once used by Kirklands Bakery, The Fly in the Loaf is a bar offering craft and cask beers as well as bread based food like pizza.

The bar space is lit by globe shape lights over the bar counter and concealed lighting in the mirror backed shelves of spirits behind the bar.

While some ordered food, I would soon head elsewhere for a meal, after enjoying a glass of Rooster's Brewing Co High Tea, a hazy jasmine green tea IPA.

Taking the scenic route to my alternative dining spot involved turning left (north) into Hope Street, passing the Philharmonic Dining Rooms and then the Everyman Theatre.

At the adjacent annexe of the Everyman, I stopped to get a photo of the entrance to the Pen Factory. Serving cask ale and small plates of food at basement level it is described as the reincarnation of the Everyman Bistro.

The distinctive form of (RC) Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral lies just north of the Everyman.
Returning to rejoin my friends after a meal and passing The Grapes in Roscoe Street I called in to ask if there would be any live music there and was advised that there would be jazz on Sunday evening.

Ye Cracke

By 8.45pm, Mark and friends had decamped to Ye Cracke, 13 Rice Street. An old illuminated sign topped by a red triangle bears the wording Bass in ornate red lettering with Ye Cracke in smaller black letters at the base. An unlit old Boddington sign is high above a doorway approached by steps.

Once inside, I ordered a pint of Billabong by Big Bog Brewing a Liverpool microbrewery.

Portraits of the individual Beatles are positioned high above the back of the bar.

Our group had a table in the main room where a large frame includes John Lennon memorabilia.

The pub was frequented by Liverpool College of Art students - John Lennon, his first girlfriend Thelma Pickles and The Dissenters (Bill Harry, John Lennon, Stuart Sutcliffe & Rod Murray) whose association is commemorated with a plaque.

Looking back towards the bar and side entrance a colourful panel depicting a battle in pop art style caught my eye. Research reveals the subject is Wellington greeting Marshal Blücher at the Battle of Waterloo.

There is a jukebox at Ye Cracke and during the evening some good tunes were played including Spanish Caravan (The Doors), Lola (The Kinks) and I'm Going Home (Ten Years After).

Around 10pm we called it a night and walked along Duke Street back to our hotel passing near the gateway to Chinatown on the way.