St Helens is a large town
in Merseyside that is, dare we say, considered a little dull. Until
recently its only real claim to beery fame was as the birthplace of
Greenall Whitley. But that's all changed. Along with many other
seemingly unlikely destinations, it has reinvented itself as a real
ale trail. Now some people get to review Michelin starred restaurants
whilst others get invited to judge fine wine. And then there are
those who get to spend a rainy day in St Helens so that you, dear
reader, don't have to.
The crawl is pretty
straightforward; radiating from the station and round until you are
back at the Central Station again. For brevity, I'll just concentrate
on the ones that seem worth a comment, good or bad.
Handy for the station is
the George which,
unsurprisingly, is on George St. This two-roomed street corner boozer
usually sells two local beers, although only one was on at opening
time when we called. The very friendly barmaid was apologetic and
pulled some beer through before serving us the Wigan brewed Windmill Anderson Best Bitter. Nothing wrong with the condition but this was pretty standard
fare that left the tasting panel less than impressed.
The
Sefton (don't forget
your CAMRA discount) on
Baldwin St had a strangely familiar look to it. It's a large,
one-roomed pub, that doesn't even pretend to be anything but a Spoons
clone. Even down to the Fish Friday etc menu. Four beers on here with
a welcome outing for George Wright. The Market Tavern was also
another large open plan affair but aimed at a sporting clientèle,
judging by the number of large screen TVs.
There
ain't nothing like the real thing: as someone once said. So, if you
want a Spoons, go to a Spoons. The Glass House is,
yes you guessed it, yet another large one-roomed pub that is done up
in the usual modern Spoons style. Nothing wrong with the beer here
with both Castro Mosaic and Nimbus being worth a pint each. The other
Spoons-Running Horses-being
a Lloyds was more restricted in its beer choice.
The
Phoenix (CAMRA
discount) on the edge
of town is worth the walk out for. What CAMRA would describe as a
“community local” translates to a traditional two-roomed layout
with some nice mosaic tiling. Appearances can be deceptive and tucked
away here are six beers; with Elland being on particular form.
We
hit the mother lode at the next stop. The Cricketers
is a multi-award winning pub that lived up to its reputation. Yes it
had a great range of beers. Yes it had the always welcome CAMRA
discount but most of all, it had a great buzz about it. You soon
become drawn into the locals conversations. Of course, such a place
holds many a danger for the imbibing man. One becomes two, becomes
three and, before you know it, you are soon blown off piste and are
on the piste. I begged to leave several times but with the Oberst
leading several renditions of Ein Prosit, there was little chance of
that.
Another
fine establishment was the Talbot Ale House.
Breaking the one-roomed theme (hooray) it also offered a range of
beers that required more than one sampling. From here you're only a
politicians grope away from the News Room.
This is a smart, cosy, micropub that delivered an excellent pint of
Windermere Pale. So good that, well you get the picture.
Luckily
the final stop was only a short stagger away. The Turks
Head is a former CAMRA National
Pub of the Year runner-up and is a cracking watering hole offering
some 15 beers. Plenty of good stuff to go at here with Oakham being
my favourite. A quick check of the clock revealed that there was just
time to get the penultimate train out of town and so a quick dash to
the station was in order.
All in all, a very
enjoyable day with some fine ale and company.
1 comment:
Great roundup! Always good to know where you can use your CAMRA membership around the country!
Post a Comment