National Inventory Pub Crawling: Liverpool and York

The wedding of friends in York in June 2008 gave us the perfect excuse to visit a few new pubs in the area, at the same time as renewing our acquaintance with some old favourites. Making the most of the long drive up from Cirencester, we added a stay in Liverpool to our trip, in the hope of visiting the only pub in the original National Inventory that we missed on our previous visit two years earlier.

Setting out on a Wednesday, our first port of call was the pretty Cheshire village of Barthomley and the black-and-white timbered White Lion. You enter into what is now a dining area with wooden furniture and a red tiled floor, a tiny snug at the back having been made smaller by a kitchen extension. The warm, friendly bar is down a few internal steps and is a symphony in dark wood, with reasonably good pints of ales from Marstons and Jennings available. I didn’t note the prices of the Snecklifter or Pedigree (although Andrew muttered about it being 20p a pint too much), but we agreed that if this pub sold a beer we liked, we’d visit more often, as it’s certainly cosy (and only three minutes from the M6).

The Bleeding Wolf at Scholar Green, near Congleton, must be one of the largest thatched buildings in the country, but we almost drove straight past it (as we were following a map showing that a pub was located by the canal over half a mile away). This huge Robinsons pub was not listed in the 2003 National Inventory, but appears on the most recent list produced by the CAMRA Historic Pubs group. A pint of Robinsons Unicorn and a half of Hartleys Cumbria Way cost us £3.60, and both were bright and clear, with Double Hop also available. This pub is spacious with a lot of interesting features, mostly modern but nicely done; the photos of the roof going up in flames many moons ago explaining most of the alterations! We looked round several rooms, including a conservatory and a room with wood-panelled walls, the latter of which, combined with the bar, seems to be why it’s in the NI listing. As it was some time since we’d had breakfast, we treated ourselves to lunch here, paying £6.50 each for quite a decent portion.

Feeling suitably replete, we used the M62 to head for Waterloo, North Liverpool, so we could nip into the Volunteer Canteen. At this narrow, two roomed pub (listed in the Liverpool Historic Pub Guide – LHPG), we found some lovely fittings, a warm and friendly atmosphere and a cracking pint of Deuchars IPA. The Sharps Own was off, but was replaced almost instantly with a second pint of Deuchars. The price for both pints was £5.60, which is pricey for the region, but I’ve no quibbles when the beer’s kept in such good condition. One side of the bar has an impressive wall-length display cabinet/notice board feature; the other side has several ornate pieces of internal stained glass, and some very worn (albeit comfy-looking) upholstered seats around the edges.

After a quick dash down the A565 to the dock development (and our hotel) to avoid the rush hour, we faced the onerous task of walking almost 300 yards to the start of our pub crawl for the evening (no coincidence this time – just basic research): the Baltic Fleet, home of the Wapping Brewery, where we had arranged to meet our friend Tony. This brewpub is not in the National Inventory but features in the LHPG, with all three rooms sparsely furnished with plain wooden tables and benches that almost match the worn floorboards (with a few cushioned stools dotted about). They had five of their beers available on this occasion, including a mild. We’d intended to stay for just one pint, but ended up having three each because they were so good! I was pleased to see that this pub uses oversized lined glasses, and my first pint was topped up by the helpful chap behind the bar before I’d even noticed that it was a slightly short measure.

As we were already running late, we took a taxi to Ye Cracke (again, listed in the LHPG). A tired, worn out looking place, it has some interesting features, including some more internal stained glass and an old snug with a sash window; but its main claim to fame is that it was a frequent haunt of John Lennon’s in his art student days. There were four cracking beers on handpump – Skipton Black Gold, Thwaites Original, Ossett Pale Gold and Allgates Mild at Heart – and we paid £6.50 for three pints. I tried the Black Gold, which was so good that we all agreed to loiter and sample it again – so much for our plans!

We moved on from Ye Cracke to the Dispensary, a Cains pub that is unusual in being converted from an old shop many years ago. The ale here is highly rated by Tony, and it’s good to quaff a decent pint of their Dark Mild (and Bitter). That the recommendation was justified is evident from the illegibility of my notes at this point; but I can just about make out that the pub was formerly known as The Grapes, that it does look like a shop from certain angles, has lots of wooden fittings, and that I don’t like the flavour of Cains beers very much.

A meal at a good Indian restaurant appears to have restored my ability to write, at least to a certain extent, as the final note of the day is much more legible! We ended the crawl at one of Tony’s old biker/rocker haunts, the Swan, which is best described as a jolly good boozer (although a penchant for thrash metal would be advantageous!), with five handpumps dispensing Hydes Original, Hidden Quest, Wychwood Owzat! and two boring national brands. Suffice to say we proceed no further, but did benefit from the stagger back being downhill!

On Thursday morning, feeling somewhat jaded, we visited the Gustav Klimt exhibition before heading across town. We paused for Andrew to have a quick pint of Cains Bitter in the Crown Hotel en-route, and I must admit that the acres of polished wood in here do look stunning in bright sunlight.

Ma Egertons was next, yet another pub featured in the LHPG. There’s no real ale here, but we happily spent £3.40 on a half of Coke and a St Clements (orange juice and bitter lemon), whilst we marvelled at the photo collection of famous movie stars which cover most of the walls. The upholstered benches round the outside of the large lounge were very comfortable; the bar was smaller and quite dark, but with some lovely fittings.

After wandering around the Walker Art gallery we headed over to the Ship and Mitre (amazingly, it’s also in the LHPG). This is a deceptively large two-room Art Deco establishment, the front bar sparsely decorated with bare wooden floors and basic fittings, separated from the almost luxurious (in comparison) rear room by a large ‘island bar’. There was an excellent range of beers here – 12 available on handpump, including two milds. As our equilibriums were somewhat restored by this point, we tried a pint of Higsons Dark Mild (4.4%) and a pint of Scatter Rock Dartmoor Blonde (3.2%), a very reasonable £3.60 for the round. Andrew was so taken by the Dartmoor Blonde that he enjoyed two more of them whilst we waited for a heavy shower to pass over. We particularly admired some of the detailing in a superb stained glass ceiling panel in the rear room. We noted that this pub has regular beer festivals (including cider and German/Belgian beers) and it certainly wins our vote for the best kept ales in Liverpool.

After leaving the Ship and Mitre, we made an unscheduled stop in the Old Post Office for a comfort break and to get out of the sun for a while, necking a quick half of cider as it seemed rude to look around without buying a drink. This pub features in a local CAMRA guide, ‘Around the city in 50 pubs’. There’s some nice stained glass around the top of the bar but otherwise no features of note, unless you’re into this pub’s obsession with horse racing, the multiple TVs showing race after race, equine posters, prints, etc.

After changing for the evening (more rain was forecast), we moved on to the Cains Brewery Tap, of which we’d hoped for better things. There are some nice architectural features, but my half of mild and Andy’s half of IPA were both fairly bland and insipid, and I do not expect to be served a short measure at a brewery tap (although the IPA was topped up on request).

It was, on the whole, a relief to move on again, using the local rail network to search for the National Inventory-listed Prince Arthur. Unfortunately, a temporary memory loss (occasioned by our not having a copy of the Inventory on us at the time) meant that we ended up at the Prince Albert instead. This was a big barn of a place, with some nice bits of glass but no other redeeming features, and we left rather quickly to find our intended destination; the gentleman setting up the largest collection of bass speakers for a disco that we’d ever seen being a factor. We ambled south along the A59, stopping for a pleasant Chinese meal before reaching our intended destination.

The NI-listed Prince Arthur was well worth the effort in terms of its interior design and fittings; it has some fantastic glasswork, stained and/or etched, both internal and external. The tiling wasn’t bad either! Sadly, though, we were disappointed on the drinking front when we were informed by the landlady that the two handpumps were “only for decoration these days”. Muttering darkly about pubs that advertise products that are not available, we had a quick soft drink each while we looked around, and then moved on.

Once back at Lime St Station, it’s only a few yards to our final stop of the day, the Lion, which I described in an earlier article following a visit in June 2006. This lovely pub, featured on the front cover of the National Inventory, hadn’t changed a bit, and it was great to be back there again, although the ales were a little on the bland side this time (by their high standards).

Friday saw us heading towards York, via the Lowry Art Gallery in Salford. We took the chance to visit a few pubs on the way, of which the first was the Stanley Arms, a new NI listing at Patricroft in Eccles (the Coach & Horses, Salford, being closed at lunchtimes). Here we found some excellent Holts Mild and Bitter, at £1.67 a pint for the mild and £1.75 for the bitter. It’s a proper locals’ pub where everybody from the landlady down only used Christian names, whether ordering a round or adding their names to the darts team or ‘Rob’s stag do’. This pub has a large wooden bar and screen that dominates the attractive corner room where most locals sit, with a hatch to the corridor, although it’s disfigured by an ugsome lager and cider fount. The most striking feature is the green tiling along the corridor, off which the main lounge has smart upholstered leather benches and features bell pushes around the walls. At the end is a smaller room with an old-fashioned range, leading to a smokers’ patio.

A quick gallop over the Pennines on the M62 took us to the highly recommended Three Pigeons in Halifax, another new NI listing. We were impressed with this pub, which is well worth a visit for both its beer and its architecture. There were eight ales on handpump, ranging in price from £2.05 to £2.60, and we tried three – Goose Eye Over & Stout (5.2%), Ossett Wot No England (4.3%) and Globe Blonde (3.9%) – all of which were clear and in good condition. The pub itself has some lovely fireplace tiling, an interesting mosaic in the central lobby, bell pushes around the rooms, opulent furnishings, interesting metal lettering on the ‘bar lounge’ and painting around the entrance. The bar is part of a central lobby, with three rooms off this central ‘hub’ and a fourth down a corridor. This last room is completely different in character from the others – an old ‘no smoking’ room with a wooden floor and benches.

It was a shame to tear ourselves away, but we needed to get to our B&B in York, the Coach House, to meet some mates (the fact that it sells locally brewed real ales not hindering our choice). A half each of York Brewery Centurian’s Ghost and Yorkshire Terrier set us back £2.80 and set us up for the trek to Piro’s in the City Centre, where we met up with yet more friends. There were two handpumps serving real ales at Piro’s, but also a number of foreign beers including an American beer from Sierra Nevada! The gang sampled almost the entire range of beers (both UK and foreign) before we moved on again.

Our next stop was the dimly lit Guy Fawkes: lots of flagstones, wooden panelling and Tudor style furniture. I didn’t make many notes here (or indeed for the rest of the evening) as I’d deliberately left my note-book back at the B&B, but I did recall afterwards that there had been around six handpumps, and that we had tried beers called Nightmare and Guy Fawkes Strong Ale. The main bar is quite small but pleasant, with room for two dozen drinkers (if you squash up a bit), plus a large lounge to one side and another room at the back.

You can’t visit York in the company of York branch CAMRA members without a visit to the Three-Legged Mare, known locally as the ‘Wonky Donkey’; so we duly called in (after a detour for a curry). It’s a big modern place with no outstanding features except for its beer, which is superb (OK, a spiral staircase down to the toilets is technically a feature). On this occasion the beers included a very good damson porter, a pale ale that appealed to Andrew, and of course the wonderful Centurian’s Ghost (which became rather a feature of my weekend).

Our final stop of the evening was the Minster Inn, which had four lightish beers on. I had a coke here to settle my stomach, but the others said that the beers were in good condition.

Saturday was the day of the wedding itself, with an afternoon reception at Betty’s Tea Rooms and an evening reception in the York Brewery. Well, where else would you have a wedding reception other than in a brewery? I lost count of the amount of Centurian’s Ghost that I consumed, and in retrospect the cry (not mine) of “if we stride out, the Wonky Donkey’s still open!”, as the brewery kicked us out, was a major tactical error. But we had a great time (except for my head on the Sunday), and on a more recent visit back to see the happy (still) couple, I was very pleased to be able to renew my acquaintance with both the Wonky Donkey and one of my favourite beers.

Sophie (with assistance from Andrew Frape)

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