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Category: Good Beer Guide

Manchester Trip : Port Street Beer House

The next venue on the list that Simon and I thought would be a good idea to visit is the Port Street Beer House. They’ve been open since 2011 and they have 18 keg lines and 7 cask lines, a balance that sounds just about right to me. It’s also no surprise given this heritage that the pub is listed in the Good Beer Guide, so that’s another one for my list.

This was a busy venue, although we found ourselves a place to stand. This is the Sun Goes Down mild from Thornbridge Brewery and this wasn’t as good as I had hoped for, it was too light and had a slight taste of charcoal. However, it’s always positive to see a mild on a menu.

Apologies for the finger in the way of the lens here, but this beer didn’t disappoint. It’s the Double Crumble – Apple, Blueberry and Maple from Pastore Brewing, and this surprised and delighted. Lots of maple, a bit of fruit and a creamy mouthfeel, just as I like a sour to be.

Richard treated himself to a fruited pale, the Specialist in the Field from Farm Yard Brew Co. I’m glad he bought it, it had a bit of a zing to put it mildly, but I didn’t find much depth of flavour in the whole arrangement. By this time we had gone hunting for a table and Łukasz has found one outside which was wet, but obstacles such as this don’t stop him. I don’t think the Polish are known for letting wet benches from getting in the way of their drinking.

This is a popular bar and judging from the positive on-line reviews, it’s a really well run operation. Where they get negative reviews, they’re like this:

“I used to come here regularly, but the last time I was there, they didn’t accept my legal tender (only card payments). This is unacceptable behaviour, and I do hope it’s now corrected. If so, I’ll change this review.”

I can’t imagine the bar shed many tears over this and it’s a reminder that cash isn’t king, but I won’t go down that line. There were some interesting beers available and the whole beer menu felt well curated. I would have preferred it to be quieter so we could get a table, but the reality is that it’s a popular and interesting place which I’m glad is doing well. And of course, it’s a worthy entrant into the Good Beer Guide.

January 1, 2025
Liverpool – Lion Tavern (Good Beer Guide)

I’ve been to this pub before, but I felt that a revisit was needed as my last time here was before I decided to try and visit every Good Beer Guide pub in the country. There’s some rail heritage to the Lion, it’s named after the locomotive that worked the Liverpool to Manchester Railway. This locomotive was made in 1838 and it’s now on display at Liverpool Museum, with this pub opening in 1840.

Interesting even from the exterior and the pub is listed on the CAMRA Historic Interior register and they note that:

“This richly appointed pub has a layout very similar to others on Merseyside in this guide, namely the Stork Hotel, Birkenhead, and the Prince Arthur, Liverpool. It has an L-shaped corridor wrapping round the public bar on the street corner, and with spaces leading off it. A plan of 1903 shows the public bar as now, but in 1915 the Lion expanded into the building next door. The corridor was then created along with a news room (so-named in the window glass) in the newly acquired area, and a lounge beneath a skylight (the dividing walls were, sadly, taken down in 1967). The corridor has a mosaic floor and a lovely Art Nouveau tiled dado, above which is a timber and etched glass screen, with openings allowing service to drinkers in the corridor. The back fitting in the public bar seems to be Victorian: the dado tiling here is to the same design as in the corridor. There is a fine set of old carved screens in the front windows carrying advertising, something that is occasionally seen in Scotland but rarely in England.”

One of the entrances, I like pubs with character like this and there are plenty of them in Liverpool.

The beer range which I thought was reasonable with some quality ales there to choose from.

One of the two bars, I was surprised by the lack of customers although there were a couple in the other side.

I went for half a pint of the Dark Flagon from Wily Fox Brewery, which I’ve had a couple of times before and enjoyed. It’s an excellent cask beer, there’s an initial hit of chocolate and then a rum finish. It’s smooth, decadent and just a little sweet.

It’s a beautiful pub and although it was quieter than I expected, the atmosphere was welcoming and the member of bar staff was friendly and engaging. It’s very well reviewed on-line, although I always feel the need to have a little look at the negative reviews to see what excitement has taken place, but there’s not much other than one customer who said he reported the manager to the police for being rude to him. I can imagine that the police were thrilled. The pub prides itself on its free jukebox, but a couple of customers are irritated that their choices have been deleted, but other than that, plenty of happy customers.

The real ale range seemed reasonable and interesting, the pub had character, the service was friendly and the surroundings were comfortable. All rather lovely and I can see why it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide.

December 6, 2024
Preston – Winckley Street Ale House (Good Beer Guide)

With an hour left until my train, this was the last pub in Preston that I was able to visit in my little expedition around their Good Beer Guide listed venues. It was known as the Otter’s Pocket when it opened in November 2018, but was renamed to its current name in March 2020. Prior to that it had been a shop and then previous to that it was a Mediterranean restaurant for several years.

The pub interior, it’s relatively spacious as there are a few more seats at the rear, but it’s still ultimately a micro-pub and I can imagine that it gets full relatively quickly.

That’s not a lined glass, so this is a short measure. It’s the Jelly Swirl Trifle pale Ale from Play Brew Co, but it had considerable flavour for a cask beer. It does what it say on the can (well on the Untappd screen), sweet, jelly and like a dessert.

My second beer, which was a third of the Gingerbread Latte from Vault City Brewing. Often Christmas beers really aren’t very good, but this is one that I can absolutely get behind. It was smooth, boozy, decadent and had an excellent mouthfeel with tastes of ginger and cinnamon.

I didn’t take a photo of the screen, although their beers are listed on Untappd for anyone who is interested in perusing their menu. The service was polite, but the atmosphere felt a little stilted and it wasn’t perfectly clean as the table was sticky and the handwash in the toilet had run out, but I accept that these things happen. They weren’t doing food when I was there, but they have pies, burgers, salads and light bites on Wednesday to Sunday lunchtimes and Wednesday to Saturday evenings, a relatively large menu given the size of the premises.

Certainly an interesting venue and I can see why they’re in the Good Beer Guide with their choices of real ales. The craft beer selection was excellent and that Vault City beer was a joy to behold, a beautiful beer on which to end my little trip to Preston. All really rather lovely and I look forwards to visiting again to see what craft beer that they have to surprise and delight me.

December 5, 2024
Preston – Guild Ale House (Good Beer Guide)

Next in my Good Beer Guide expedition was the Guild Ale House, which was the town’s first micro-pub when it opened in February 2016 in place of the former Hospice charity shop who previously occupied the premises.

The only two customers in the entire pub were sitting in front of the bar pumps, but fortunately they had a drinks screen which made matters easier. There’s a choice of cask and keg on the screen, but they also have a bottled selection as well including some Belgian options.

I went for the Bullet Tooth Tony from Wilde Child Brewing Company, which was well-kept and had some fruit tones, but I found it quite bland. I’ve always rated Wilde Child’s darker beers rather better, but it wasn’t an unpleasant beer.

The pub’s interior which is spacious and there’s a reasonable amount of space. They frequently have live music and other events, although they don’t play background music which is something I think they’re doing right.

I noted CAMRA’s comment of “worth noting they may close earlier than stated times dependent on footfall”, so I didn’t risk going in the evening and went at lunchtime. The venue is though very well-reviewed and in the eight years they’ve been trading they haven’t picked up a single 1-star review on Google, and only have two 2-star reviews. That’s a fairly impressive piece of pub management, so it’s no surprise that they’ve also won several CAMRA awards. Anyway, this seems to be a consistently good real ale pub and long may it continue.

December 5, 2024
Preston – Black Horse (Good Beer Guide)

Well, this is always a most wonderful way to start a visit to a pub. I was actually here because it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide and I’m carefully working my way around all of the pubs in it that I can. For reference, the other three pubs remaining in the national pub of the year are the Three B’s in Bridlington, the Bailey Head in Oswestry and the Little Green Dragon in Winchmore Hill, London.

The exterior of the pub adorned with CAMRA awards, this is a proper looking Victorian pub and it’s a Grade II listed building. Located on Friargate, there has been a pub with the name of the Black Horse on this site since the late eighteenth century. It was opened in 1898 as a small hotel and designed by J A Seward of Preston for Kay’s Atlas Brewery Company of Manchester, one of just two of their pubs remaining. There’s original tiling on the bar which was added shortly after the hotel opened and there’s Robinson’s brewery memorabilia dotted about, as they’re the current owners.

One of the entrances, with the building once also being used as a hotel. I didn’t realise this at the time, but it’s noted that this is the only pub in the country that has entrances on three different streets.

One of the banks of pumps. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that shiny Guinness tap, but it all looked inviting and interesting.

The second bank of pumps.

And another couple for good measure. The barman was helpful and engaging, I felt choosing just one beer was perhaps beyond me, so I had three half pints.

Decorative elements everywhere.

I chose this room to sit in. It was a bit dark, but it was cosy and it had a fire going which the barman attended to every now and then.

A bit of heritage in the toilets.

Anyway, back to the beer and I liked the Preston Ale Trail leaflet. This first beer was odd, it tasted a little of plum initially, it felt like Titanic had plum porter overflowing everywhere. It’s meant to be the Titanic Classic Mild and it had a dark smoothness to it.

Beer two was the Tell No Tales from the Bosun’s Brewing Company. A little thin, but there was lots of coffee flavour, some sweetness and a bit of a malt.

Beer three and this is as good as cask gets, the 6.5% Cherry Porter Grand Reserve from Titanic Brewery. Decadent, smooth and boozy, lots of cherry and Titanic at its best.

The pub was laid-back and comfortable, with the bar staff being attentive and I was thanked when leaving (I mean politely thanked for my custom, not thanked for finally leaving). I can’t say that it’s a surprise to discover that it’s rated as one of the best in the country, it was a really quite classy traditional pub.

December 4, 2024
Preston – Plug & Taps (Good Beer Guide)

Carrying on my meanderings around Good Beer Guide pubs in Preston, this is one of the few pubs that is Untappd verified and is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. I wasn’t able to get a photo of the beer board but their offerings are listed on Untappd and they had ten craft beers and four real ales. There’s also a large beer fridge with some interesting options available, as well as a choice of Belgian beers. The bar opened in June 2018 and they have a permanent line from the Rivington Brewery.

My photos in this venue aren’t very good unfortunately, but this is the Helio (10th Birthday Beer) from Track Brewing. Tropical with a very lingering flavour, it was heavy on the pineapple, being smooth and decadent.

Well, there’s fighting talk!

I love the Stoopid series from Vault City and these beers pour like smoothies, so the glass will be a nuisance to clean. Slightly tart, creamy with heaps of strawberry, some blackberry and it was generally just delicious. And yes, I think it’s a beer, although that’s kind of the point, these drinks are meant to question that entire matter.

The atmosphere was welcoming, although it was quiet, but everything felt modern and on-trend. The service was polite and friendly, with the bar staff seemingly knowledgeable about the beer options. The venue was clean with the high seating that I personally prefer. The on-line reviews are nearly all positive, just a couple of grumbles about the prices, although I thought they were comparable with similar venues. Definitely yet another bar which I think is justifiably in the Good Beer Guide.

December 4, 2024
Preston – Orchard (Good Beer Guide)

Located in the covered market, this small craft beer bar serves mostly keg, but it has a couple of real ales and it has found itself in the Good Beer Guide.

The craft beer board, some intriguing and interesting choices here, a fair few of them are rated over 4 on Untappd.

Starting with the Crushing Blows from Neon Raptor and although I wonder sometimes whether there are too many beers of this style, I still like it and so I don’t much care. Plenty of pineapple and some miscellaneous stonefruit, tropical with a creamy mouthfeel.

There are only a small number of tables inside, with a few more outside, but it’s a cosy and comfortable interior with a homely feel. I can imagine that there are plenty of times when it’s difficult to get a seat though. Everything felt clean and tidy, with chunky tables that didn’t wobble and plenty of high seating, which is my personal favourite. Surfaces were also clean and not sticky, another problem in numerous bars.

My second beer was another clever brew from Vault City, with an upfront taste of pancakes, then the strawberry flavour hits and then the chocolate at the end. Smooth, decadent and maybe slightly over sweet, but everyone needs some sweetness in their life.

The venue is well-reviewed on-line, although there’s a ridiculous review which says:

“Came to have a drink and asked for draft cider and gave us cider from a box. Plus they lied to use saying it was a draft as she filled it at the back”.

The bar correctly responded that this is still draft and it’s how most real cider is actually served, although I guess it’s not how Strongbow would be served so perhaps therein lies the problem. Just about everyone else is happy with the beer, cider, atmosphere, occasional music and staff friendliness.

As a general comment, as a market conversion, they seem to have done a very decent job of the modernisation, with this bar feeling like it fits in well with it. They don’t do food, but there are plenty of options for that within the market. The welcome at the bar was friendly and the atmosphere was comfortable and laid-back, a worthy entrant into the Good Beer Guide even though its main emphasis seems to be craft beer.

December 4, 2024
Bournemouth – Goat & Tricycle (Good Beer Guide)

Continuing my never-ending quest to visit every Good Beer Guide pub in the country, the Goat & Tricycle is an intriguing building which is formed of two different pubs. The one on the left (which has a beautiful green tile frontage which is pretty much impossible to make out on my photo) was known as the Pembroke Arms and this half of the pub is listed, so they go crazy in the other half I can imagine. This venue is from 12:00 until 23:00 every day of the week, other than on Fridays and Saturdays when it opens until 23:30. They serve food on Mondays to Saturdays, with around ten real ales usually available.

There’s the real ale range and there’s a strong presence from the Liberation Brewing Co who are based in the Channel Islands and I remember that they dominated the pub scene when I went to Jersey. Anyway, the selection was broad and it’s evident why it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide.

The beer list on the chalkboard and also a collection of implements that hopefully will never fall on a patron’s head. The service was friendly and welcoming, although there weren’t any seats available as it was busy. The pub was clean and I liked that they kept the front bar clean and dry.

This is the BOB from Wickwar Wessex Brewing Company. A sessionable beer which was malty with flavours of toffee and biscuit. I like drinking a liquid Twix though, so no complaints there.

This is listed as a Winter Ale on Untappd, but I’m not entirely sure what they actually are, I just thought it’s be something stronger in terms of the ABV but this little number was 4.1% which is hardly going to lead to much falling over. Decent beer though, very malty and I got a taste of cinnamon, but I decided that I was probably an idiot on that as no-one else seemed to be.

The on-line reviews are mostly positive and the negative ones are mostly ridiculous by the looks of it. One customer wrote:

“Worst pub in Bournemouth by some distance! Rubbish selection of ales all from Butcombe. Inferior nonlocal Westons cider available at £6 pint. Bright lights and a dreadful environment. Avoid like the plague!”.

I mention this as I liked the pub’s response to the review:

“Just to be warned everyone, this gentleman spent 30 minutes in our pub, he bought a Liberation IPA, drank half of it then tipped half an Old Rosie into the same glass, drank it and then left. Was extremely rude whilst at the bar, complaining we weren’t a Wetherspoons. Walking into a Butcombe pub complaining its full of Butcombe beer. 0 stars for you Greg”.

I think that’s a humorous response personally, I liked that they noted the rather dreadful sounding Snake Bite type drink. And there’s a nasty review which gave them 1 out of 5 because they were honouring their licensing conditions by not allowing under 18s in and the customer noted “this was inconvenient as we had agreed to meet a friend there”. I feel their pain.

The atmosphere in the pub was relaxed and laid-back, it was a comfortable place to be even without a seat to sit at. The service was efficient and customers were served in turn, with what felt like a genuine welcome offered to all. The pub is owned by Butcombe Brewery and there are apparently a couple of function rooms available, which isn’t entirely surprising since they’ve formed this venue from two separate premises. Anyway, all rather lovely and I’d merrily recommend this pub to others given the range of real ales and the ones I had were well-kept.

December 3, 2024
London – Camden (Borough of) – The Seven Stars (Good Beer Guide)

I’m slowly, but steadily, working on my project to visit every pub in the Good Beer Guide. This building, located on Carey Street near to the Hunterian Museum, is thought to have been built in 1602 although the bar is mostly Victorian. There’s no shortage of history to the pub, which was originally called the The League of Seven Stars in a nod towards Dutch geography (the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands). I didn’t go up to the toilets in the pub, but they are noted for their steep stairs and a sign which requests customers not to swing on the rail. It’s located near to the Royal Courts of Justice so they are treated to a considerable amount of trade from the legal profession.

A range of Greene King and Adnams beers is not what I was hoping for as they’re so common in East Anglia, but it’s something perhaps slightly different for London. I went for a pint of Broadside which cost £6 and was well kept and tasted as expected. There are some reviews which mention, quite grumpily, that the pub doesn’t offer tasters and that is highly unusual. Anyway, the service was friendly and engaging, so the atmosphere felt inviting.

The slightly infamous pub cat visible in the background. It’s said that Shakespeare might have visited the building given that his plays were performed at Middle Temple, although that’s perhaps a little fanciful. More likely is that the pub was used as the inspiration for The Magpie & Stump featured in Pickwick Papers. The building is listed in CAMRA’s list of outstanding interiors of national historic importance and they note:

“The frontage bears the date 1602 but the building itself probably dates from “only” the 1680s, and was extended into the building on the right in 1878. The core of the pub is the part with doors embellished with etched and gilded glass, declaring ‘private counter’ (on the left) and ‘general counter’ (right). These names are probably unique, certainly in the experience of the writers, and correspond to the more commonly used ‘private bar’ and ‘public bar’. So there were evidently two separate areas fronting on to a common servery and divided, no doubt, by a timber screen. The counter (a plain affair) and bar-back are Victorian and the coloured advertising panels in the head of the latter are typical of the period around 1870-1890. The pub further expanded into the building on the left hand side in relatively recent years to form a cosy drinking area called the ‘Wig Box’.”

A rather better cat photo than my efforts.

I did try though.

I couldn’t quite understand these chairs, as one customer tried to sit on them and nearly fell off before meandering to one of the tables. The tables have table-clothes on so it wasn’t entirely clear to me whether drinkers were allowed to sit at them. The pub is primarily food led and there’s a blackboard which is chalked up with the daily menu. I must admit, the whole arrangement felt a little uncomfortable so I wouldn’t want to linger, but it’s a popular venue. Most surfaces were sticky which made it a little challenging to find somewhere to stand and not stick to something, but the food is very well reviewed and I’m sure it’s marvellous. Anyway, another Good Beer Guide venue ticked off.

November 28, 2024
Gainsborough – Elm Cottage

I meandered to this pub near to the football ground as it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide, and is a former CAMRA branch pub of the year. Unfortunately, I suspect that this will be their last year in the Good Beer Guide as they’ve abandoned real ale entirely and the venue appears to be under new management. The last real ale checked in on Untappd was in November 2023, so it seems to have disappeared some time ago.

It might be cheaper to rent one….

The team member said that she wasn’t sure how to pour a Guinness, but it’s all theatre anyway in my rather irrelevant opinion. Priced at £5 which is reasonable, it tasted as expected.

The listed building record notes about this venue:

“The Elm Cottage public house is located at the junction of Chruch Street and Morton Terrace in Gainsborough. It has a long history as an inn. It originally had a thatched roof and whitewashed walls and probably started life as a mud and stud cottage in the eighteenth century. This was refronted with a mock Tudor half-timbered exterior covering in the 1930s. A granite horse water trough use to stand outside the pub, but this now sits in the grounds of Richmond House and it being used as a planter.”

The venue appears to be pivoting from real ale and traditional atmosphere into a vibrant events led pub which seems to focus on lager, which was by far the biggest seller when I was there. The service was friendly, the atmosphere relaxed, but it’s not really a pub that is aimed for me now.

August 7, 2024