Saturday 6th January 2024, 12:26pm
A chilly bus stop in Southport was the unlikely launch pad for 2024 BRAPA pub ticking.
Merseyside is the county I want to crack by spring, and although alphabetically speaking, Formby & Freshfield were my main objectives today, it made sense to mop up my two newbies in Sandgrounder land.
The bus is delayed, and I'm so busy breathing on the bus shelter and drawing smiley faces in the condensation, I miss a different bus going in the same direction. Tsk.
But the 44 service FINALLY appears and soon I'm in the suburb of Marshside where a GBG debutant awaits.
Fleetwood Hesketh Sports & Social Club, Southport (2582 / 4743)
"Do to others as you would they should do to you" is the Latin translation. 'You would, they should' huh? The Bible eh? A tough read. I sneak in through the back door, an old pisser looks at me suspiciously as I struggle to find the bar, but the fresh faced lad pulling pints smiles warmly. I order a Bank Top Flat Cap ahead of Ossett White Rat, it is just everywhere at the moment! Farty beginnings but it settles down into warm malty goodness. The carpet is easily a 9 as the sun streams in through the back window. Views onto the bowling green, full of hardy elderly chaps. One comes in carrying two paper coffees and a hot pie on a tray, and eats it noisily, centimetres from my face. I think it was the equivalent of a cat marking its territory. Being new here, perhaps I wasn't supposed to look this relaxed, but I felt at home. Rank #2
The bus back into Southport centre finds my second pub in a much more sensible location.
Masons Arms, Southport (2583 / 4744)
Southport's only Robbo's pub on this, my third visit to a decent pub town, so I can only assume it hasn't always been this good. Glorious interior, wood panelling, distinct drinking areas - a boozers gaff. Old Tom is tempting, but even I have a modicum of sense (at times), so swerve it in favour of a delicious 4T's stout. I secrete myself in a snug with a roaring fire. The two ladies occupying it don't seem particularly pleased with my presence, possibly because I'm a rare non-fawner over the dog Tilly. Why do some dog owners think that non-dog lovers must be subhuman scum who require their hard-drive checking? Baffles me! This couple from L**ds arrive, clock my GBG, and tell me they are tickers. Wow! I give them a good quizzing, and although a lot of what they say chimes in with BRAPA, they drink halves and have NO IDEA how many pubs they've ticked and don't even have a spreadsheet. AND they use the App to get about rather than the physical book which is just asking for trouble. Nice couple though, although their mascot PG Tips Monkey is a bit of an attention whore compared with Nicolette and Russell (filling in for Col who is still in the wash) and returns to the bar for a photo! We say farewell, they've got other Southport ticks, but I must head south to continue my day, cos, I'm hardcore. Rank #1
I decide to 'alight' at Ainsdale, because it looks closer to my third pub on foot than Freshfield or Formby, despite the pub being listed under Formby.
Yes X/Twitter know-it-alls, I DO realise there are buses to somewhere near the pub, but they are hourly and I didn't mind the walk, the weather being sunny and amazingly dry for a change.
It is quite a rural spot, down a muddy puddly lane, and I'm not the only one making a bee-line for it on foot .....
Sparrowhawk, Formby (2584 / 4745)
.... turns out they know each other. Of course they do.
Seconds after this photo, they hear my footsteps and kindly part to let me nip in between them, where I then ignore the serving meet n greeter, launching myself at the bar. Bingo! A pint of Fab Four is mine (well kept but slightly unpalatable like the 60's boring boy band on whom it is based) but the place is a flippin' restaurant and an armchair in the bar area is the best I can do. Other drinkers arrive but are forced to sit at the bar. The place is a sea of twild-heavy families. The staff are lovely, that is the one takeaway positive. Brunning & Price. I should've known. Place reeked of it, and their boring Scooby Doo haunted mansion ways. Serves me right for having a dig at them in my Masham blog. I sometimes don't mind them, but this was horrible. So many staff whizzing past me with plates of food, I couldn't relax and stretch my legs for fear of tripping them up. And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I realised the hourly bus was terribly timed. No way I'm staying for a second pint, so time to trudge towards Freshfield on foot. Rank #6
I make haste, whilst there is still enough daylight remaining, as it a puddly pavementless lane for the first half, before I hit a solid concrete main drag.
I still had another Formby tick to do, but the Freshfield one was marginally closer , and Formby is south of Freshfield on the train line, so I was utterly confused in a geographical sense!
Oh, and I had the added worry of whether these next two pubs (both micros) would actually be open at this awkward early January period where so many pub owners go on holiday and decline to mention it on social media like my Kimberley Roots farce last year.
And whilst we are on the subject, credit must go to Aigburth's Little Tap Room, Whiston's Beer EnGin and Waterloo's Four Ashes for saying when they'll be back from their winter breaks. Cheers!
And I'm in luck here, phew, it had been a long 45 minute trek .....
Beer Station, Freshfield (2585 / 4746)
It speaks volumes for the overall quality of this cheerful micro bustler that I'm rating it so highly when you consider the sheer volume of stinkin' wet dogs attached to bald owners. Look, I'm not anti pub dog even though it might sound like it today, but there is a time and a place, and this wasn't it. One bloke even clocks me scowling at his mangy mutt, and after what had happened in the Masons earlier, I felt like the biggest dog hater in Merseyside. FAKE NEWS. I love all animals. But I just happen to think cats are much more compatible with pubs because they are content to just 'be'. Beer of the day, this Winter Ale from Southport. Smoooth. And how I don't get invaded in my prominent spacious corner bench is a little miracle. When I finally do, I'm on my dregs anyway. A lovely Thai bride and her railway enthusiast hubbie, nice little York chat, and it is always good to end a pub experience on a positive sociable note. Rank #3
Turns out I'm right outside Freshfield Station (ohhh, Beer STATION, I've just got it!) so I take the train one stop to Formby which is inexplicably south of here, to save my legs further pain.
Mr Thai Bride had just come from this next micro. He rates it less highly than the Beer Station. But would I agree?
Tin Shed, Formby (2586 / 4747)
Eyeballed by a pump clip with an eyeball on it, I ask for the beer by its full name "That's a Good Name for a Beer" and receive praise from the barmaid for doing so. "Most people just grunt 'that Beartown one!'" she laments. Empowered, I commandeer the impressive nicotine settee (bad for the posture, good for the soul) and enjoy my fruity pint. But I'm with Mr Thai Bride on this one. The ocean floor deep blue walls, the lack of a 'joined up' atmosphere and a sort of Desperate Scousewives meets Fatal Attraction vibe stop me from feelin' the love here, despite a more roomy, less doggy space. Rank #4
Back on the train for my final tick, and I hop off at Moorfields which seemed sensible at the time, and find this giant office block of a Wetherspoons somewhere near the docks .....
Captain Alexander, Liverpool : City Centre (2587 / 4748)
At the bar, a Scouser who is both mad and wise in equal measures tries to talk me into this guest Hawkshead, but too late, I've Cairngormed too early, and as he continues to babble on, I'm amazed I manage to produce a Mudgie Voucher from my bag just in the nick of time, because this is one of the more expensive northern 'Spoons I've been in. I spin round and despite the vastness of the place, no seats so I follow signs for 'Roof Terrace'. Up and up, and up a bit more. A few hardy smokers are sheltering in the far corner like a pack o' Alpacas. I pull my 100% Icelandic Woollen hat on tight, and figure that the fresh air is 'just what I need at this stage'. I'm needing motivation to get this pint down though, lovely as it is, and I get it when Blackpool Jane messages to she's in Liverpool and sees I am too so I say Crown Hotel cos (a) 'tis majestic and (b) next to Lime St, neck my pint quicksticks (might've left a qtr but don't tell the BRAPA rule makers) and dash off. Rank #5
Yes, it wouldn't feel like a proper Merseyside pub day without a trip to my OG pub, first visited circa 2008 and I've been here plenty times since. After a bracing power walk, I'm soon there ....
Jane is already in the corner and shouts me, so I order a pint of Titanic Plum Porter (the only sensible option at this stage) and join her, where she tells me about her football farce and subsequent retreat to the good pubs of Liverpool. She'd just been in Dispensary which might be my overall favourite, or at least top five. But her train is due before mine so scoots off quite quick, leaving me to admire that gorgeous ceiling and my PP in the delightful semi-darkness.
And with that, I've caught up on my blogs for the first time since early April!
I've written about 65 pubs in December, 52 in November and 71 in October, plus 15 so far in Jan to make it possible.
So I'm going on a #ThirstyThursday this week, sooner than planned, to celebrate.
Have a good one, and keep supporting the pubs 'at this difficult time'.
Si
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