Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Liverpool

Liverpool Weekend (Day One) – And Another Delayed Train

I walked relatively quickly from Cloudwater to Manchester Oxford Road railway station, as I’m always slightly nervous about being late for pre-booked services of any kind. It’s a slightly odd railway station, constructed in 1849 and reconstructed in 1960, now looking and feeling dated and it feels like it is ready for a major refurbishment.

They’ve put quite an attractive frontage on the building at least.

I arrived with eight minutes to spare until my train departed, with the boards showing that it was running on time. Marvellous, I would be in join Susan, Steve and Bev for the evening meal and still have time to get to my hotel to check-in. The signage at the station was clear and it was a fifteen second walk to the platform.

The 16:46 train to Liverpool Lime Street via Urmston cost me around £3.50, this was not an expensive train.

The Northern train pulled in on time, it all boded well after the delays of earlier on during the day.

It wasn’t particularly busy and I’ve moaned enough times before about how they shove seats onto these services with minimal thought for comfort. There was though a USB power supply which was useful to top my phone up a little.

The view from the train window, just as there was an announcement that trespassers on the line at Warrington had caused a delay to the service. This felt sub-optimal as we sat there for ten minutes. Pesky interlopers.

We got to Birchwood and there was an announcement that the service was delayed and might be cancelled.

On the bright side, a more promising announcement was made and once again my train was likely to arrive something like 33 minutes late so I would get 50% off the fare. Given how cheap the fare was this was hardly a big bonus, but nonetheless, it would pay for a drink.

We arrived safely at Liverpool Lime Street. Taking into account the Delay Repay refunds, it meant that my journey from Norwich to Liverpool had cost just over £15, which is hard to complain about. I felt that the delays were just perfect insomuch as getting a partial refund, but without being majorly delayed and eating into my time in Liverpool.

The delights of the station concourse and it was great to be back in Liverpool once again. I haven’t been travelling much recently, so I’ve been very much looking forwards to a weekend away and it was rather lovely to finally arrive. I then just had to head to my hotel and then go to the Indian craft beer bar that I suggested we all meet at, a plan was coming together.

September 9, 2023
Liverpool – Mathew Street YHA

This YHA is located at the end of Mathew Street, located close to the Cavern Club and the heart of Beatles territory. It was operated by another hostel company until just a few weeks ago and it’s now marketed as a “hip hostel”. I mean, that clearly describes me doesn’t it? Hip? Yeah, maybe not. Anyway, they had an offer of private en-suite rooms for £12 per night, so I was tempted by that alone.

This was, until recently, a four bed dorm room, although it’s now a double room. The cleanliness was a bit skin deep, as visible surfaces were sort of clean, but other surfaces such as under the bed, and indeed, under any surface weren’t at all clean. But, it’s a little hard to complain at a price of £12 per night.

I think a lot of the decor actually comes from the previous hostel operation, which was itself not that old. From what I can see, the YHA have tried to take over the ‘hip hostel’ theme here, although it’s all a bit muddled now as it doesn’t quite fit with their usual branding. Although that probably doesn’t matter, it’s just providing cheap and cheerful accommodation.

Mathew Street is popular with stag and hen groups, as I discovered during my three-night stay. Fortunately, I actually like this sort of background noise, although I can imagine it might irritate some guests. I was pleased they allocated me this room though, it was quite enjoyable people watching down the street.

The building that the YHA is located in is a former shop and there are some traces of the history of its original use, although it’s not all in great condition. I’ve seen some of the YHA’s recent efforts and I think it’s fair to say that they throw cash at some sites, with refurbishments often being multi-million pound projects. I’m not sure where they get all this money from, as some sites now have the appearance of hotels and seem over-spec’ed, but perhaps that’s what customers demand. This YHA doesn’t seem to have had the same love, it seems to just be a takeover of what was here before, with I imagine some changes now planned in phases.

The whole set-up was very unlike a YHA though, there’s a strange lack of structure to the site, with an absence of food menus visible at the location, although they are on-line. And the prices for the food are, frankly, way out of proportion with the local competition. They’re charging the best part of £15 for a cheeseburger and pint of beer, which might be tolerable in a quiet out of the reach location in the countryside, but they are literally fifty feet away from a Wetherspoons. It was no real surprise that every time I walked by the cafe there was nearly no-one in it and I never had any idea what time breakfast was served, and that menu isn’t available on-line to check (although I did find the breakfast times on-line when writing this). I’m not really sure why the YHA don’t just set up a cheap bar on the ground floor so that visitors can drink there if they want. If they’re determined to offer a mid-price point restaurant on site, they probably need to put menus in the room, or at least in more visible locations.

Anyway, I can’t complain too much about this stay as it was so cheap and the location couldn’t have been much better for reaching Liverpool city centre. The YHA seemed quite quiet when I was there, but I’m sure it’ll get a lot busier when people get used to it being there, as for groups it’s a convenient and easy option which isn’t too expensive. For the money, it was all very lovely.

October 16, 2019
Liverpool – Thomas Rigby’s

I’ve been to this pub a few times before over the years and it’s an intriguing building with a rich heritage. It takes its name from Alderman Thomas Rigby, a businessman who made his fortune through pubs and hotels.

The service was excellent and although I was initially a little unexcited by the beer options, I opted for the Nene Valley Brewery’s Dicks’s Extraordinary Bitter (DXB). The ratings for those beer aren’t great, but I thought it was well above average, a malty beer with a rich flavour.

The back room of the pub which had some character to it, although the television did perhaps get a bit in the way of the whole atmosphere of the room. This pub is listed in the Good Beer Guide, and it’s another entry which I, for what it’s worth, think is entirely justified.

October 11, 2019
Liverpool – The Captain Alexander

This is a new Wetherspoons for Liverpool, which opened in the city centre in July 2019. It’s perhaps a little generic inside in terms of the design, especially given the money spent on it (£2 million), but it was all clean and comfortable.

One interesting element to the frontage of the building is that there’s a balcony, which can be accessed by customers, and this was once where a walkway entered the building from the railway station on the opposite side of the road. It was part of the failed, and expensive, attempt in the 1970s by the city council to develop a system of elevated walkways across Liverpool. The new sign installed by Wetherspoons has obscured this slightly, but it’s on the right-hand side, above the “Free House” section of the sign.

The pub is named after Captain Alexander Allan and he looks an interesting character…. The text about the pub on the Wetherspoon web-site says:

“On 23 May 1819, Scottish-born sea captain Alexander Allan advertised that the 169-ton brig Jean would shortly set sail for Canada. It was the forerunner of the Allan family’s large North Atlantic fleet of sailing ships. By the 1830s, the shipping-line company had offices in Glasgow, Liverpool and Montreal. Its Liverpool office closed in 1917.”

I don’t really understand the logic Wetherspoons have had here with the naming of the pub though, Alexander Allan himself didn’t have particularly strong connections with Liverpool. His company did have offices next door to Victoria House, which is the home of the new pub, hence the pub name, but it’s all a bit tenuous. Personally, I’d have thought there were more relevant and interesting stories to be told.

I opted for the Mash Brewing Challenger which came in at marginally over £1 for half a pint, very reasonable indeed in terms of the price. There is meant to be a taste of fruit (apricots and orange), but I didn’t really get that, but it was a perfectly pleasant IPA and was at the appropriate temperature. It’s not normally the type of beer I’d order, but it’s part of the JD Wetherspoon beer festival which is taking place at the moment.

The service was all good, efficient and professional, despite the pub being pretty busy when I visited. All rather lovely and although I wasn’t entirely excited by the beer options, at least there were several to choose from.

October 11, 2019
Liverpool – North Western

The JD Wetherspoon operated North Western pub, located at Liverpool Lime Street railway station. This was the ground floor of the long since closed North Western Hotel, which was designed by Alfred Waterhouse, who also was the lead architect of London’s Natural History Museum.

The ground floor retains its grand appearance, with plenty of space and some very competitive pricing for a railway station hub.

Today is the first day of the JD Wetherspoon beer festival, and there are a number of intriguing and interesting options on the pub chain’s list. They’re not all available at once, so it’ll require multiple visits to try and get to see most of them, but I was pleased to see a beer from the Titanic Brewery. The half of this beer, the Another Pint in the Wall, was perfectly well-kept and drinkable, although this wasn’t a drink with strong flavours.

I’m not quite sure why this pub isn’t in the Good Beer Guide, it has more character and more beers than some of other Wetherspoon outlets in the area. No doubt there is a natural limit to how many of their pubs can be listed in the book, but it’s perhaps unfortunate that this isn’t one of them.

Staffing in the pub was efficient and there were no delays to the service, even though the pub was reasonably busy at the bar. The environment was comfortable and the choice of beers, and their prices, was excellent. All rather lovely.

October 10, 2019
Liverpool – Brewdog Deskdog

I heard last week about a new scheme that Brewdog have introduced to allow people to get work done in their pubs (their own work, not work for the pub chain) which gives them a table, a free pint and unlimited coffee. The cost is £7, so I thought I’d give this marvellous concept a go.

All rather excellent, they were expecting me. I don’t think a prior reservation is required though, so customers can just turn up. There’s a theoretical time limit of two and a half hours which the on-line reservation gives in the pub, but they do mention that it’s possible to extend this just by asking a staff member. I doubt that in practice there are any time restrictions (within reason).

The first of several coffees. There’s a bell at the table which the very friendly staff member said that I could press to get another coffee, but, like the call button on aircraft, I rarely feel that comfortable pressing it. And since I was six feet from the bar, I was happy to make that commitment to walking over.

The Punk IPA that was included in the price, the usual clean and refreshing flavours.

The beer list with some tempting options, although I managed to restrain myself.

Every Brewdog has a beer fridge where takeouts, or indeed drink-ins, can be obtained.

The pinball machine area for those customers who might want a distraction.

Decorative toilets with kegs on top of the cubicles, and they were also around the walls.

Anyway, back to the concept. This is part of a sweeping move being made by pubs, restaurants and hotels to get remote workers, digital nomads, home workers, or whatever the exact term used, into using their facilities. Some do this better than others, with JD Wetherspoon leading the charge with their unlimited coffee for somewhere between £1.15 and £1.50 (or more at airports), but companies such as Accor are getting good at this as well.

I like how Brewdog have made their plans very clear, as it means that people know that they are welcome within the pub for the day. The staff in this Brewdog were engaging and friendly, although the chain seems to be really good at this. The coffees kept flowing without any issue and the staff were knowledgeable about the whole process.

I like pub and hotel environments with their ambient noise and ability to listen in to what are often ridiculous complaints made to staff. The noise in this Brewdog wasn’t disturbing at all, although the music did get a bit louder towards the end of my visit. I do prefer the policy that JD Wetherspoons have on dogs (they’re banned), but given the name of Brewdog and their open acceptance of dogs, at least their policy is clear and consistent.

All in all, I really like this concept and Brewdog have implemented it with some professionalism. I can imagine that this will become more common over the next few years and it’s an excellent way of filling up what might otherwise be a nearly empty venue during the day.

October 10, 2019
National Express – Norwich to Liverpool

After I had obtained some low priced accommodation in Liverpool, I just had to work out how to get there from Norwich. The trains weren’t priced at a particularly attractive level, which was especially irritating as there’s a direct service from Norwich to Liverpool (although I think that’s going as part of the franchise changes).

So, I decided to abandon my favourite form of ground transportation and instead of using the rail network, I looked at the bus options. National Express had a return fare from Norwich to Liverpool for £28, which was much cheaper than any other option.

The only little problem with this plan is that the journey was eight hours each way. Just what I wanted…..

Anyway, I boarded in Norwich and the driver mentioned that I was going on a long journey. Much as I appreciated his enthusiasm, I did privately think that I was already well aware of this situation. On this point, the boarding process was all very efficient and I was able to get an emergency exit row seat (they’re not really called that on buses, but it cheered me up to compare it to an aircraft).

I boarded the bus twenty minutes before departure, and like some child on a school trip, I managed to eat my Tesco meal deal lunch before we had even started. Marvellous.

At Birmingham, we were allowed off the bus. I’m not sure if disembarking was compulsory, but I got off to explore the facilities. And the city’s coach station is pretty bland, full of expensive outlets, chargeable toilets and nothing much of interest. So, I waited in line to get back on the bus. Fortunately, the driver called us existing customers back on first, so we didn’t have to show tickets and the like again. Other than for one customer who the driver had clearly forgotten and he had to show his ticket again.

Driving through Birmingham….. The bus was pretty much always on time, although it missed out several stops such as Dereham and Wisbech if no passengers wanted to get off there.

As for comfort, the bus wasn’t too bad at all, particularly with the extra space of the emergency exit seat towards the back. One woman, who shall we say wasn’t exactly a millennial, decided she wanted to watch some television soap on a tablet with the sound on, which irritated me. So I stared at her angrily, to which she was oblivious, and I thought it might be best for me just to put earphones on instead.

The driving, which was completed by three drivers, was all professional and it felt a safe environment. The power on board worked well, although the Internet was a bit hopeless and I gave up with that very early on during the journey. The bus wasn’t spotless, but it was sufficiently clean to not cause me any concerns.

The highlights, other than arriving, were seeing my accommodation at Keele University (B Block, Lindsay Hall) from the M6 and also watching Jonathan travelling in the other direction on a Megabus service from Liverpool. I can’t say that I exactly enjoyed the whole journey, but it was easy, comfortable and fairly priced.

October 9, 2019
Liverpool – Mr Seel’s Garden

What is now Seel Street takes its name from Thomas Seel, who was a city merchant and former slave traders. Just to show how Liverpool has moved on over the centuries to share its wealth around equitably, note the tent to the left-hand side of the road with what I’m assuming is a homeless person trying to survive the cold months.

An information board giving more details about the area.

This is really nicely done, with a white asterisk marking the spot (towards the right-hand side) where I was standing. Unfortunately, all of these gardens are now under roads now, but it’s nice that a reminder of history has been made available.

October 9, 2019
Liverpool – Head of Steam

I, rather ignorantly, hadn’t heard of this small chain of pubs before, but I shall look out for them now in the future. As with other pubs I visited tonight, I went to them all because they’re listed in the Good Beer Guide. As with the others, this one also seemed to be deserving of its place in the guide.

There was a quirky design in what was a substantial pub in terms of its size, with plenty of different seating types. I didn’t order food, but the menu looked interesting and on-trend, with plenty of dining type tables available for those who wanted that.

I understand, from the head of pub planning for our Sheffield trip in a few weeks, that a visit is already planned to the Head of Steam bar there. The chain is owned by Camerons Brewery, once a much larger concern than it is today. Many of the pubs which they used to own have ended up with the Brent Walker group, which then became part of Pubmaster, and then in due course, Punch Taverns.

It’s not very original perhaps, but I usually go for a Plum Porter from Titanic Brewery when I see it. It didn’t disappoint here, lots of flavour and nicely refreshing.

Although later on, unable to force myself to leave the pub, I also went for Tiny Rebel’s Cask IPA. The two staff members who served me had a vibrancy about them, so the whole environment felt friendly. It wasn’t quite as busy as I’d expected, but it was a rainy Tuesday evening in October, so they were probably not expecting a full house.

More photos of the pub’s interior.

They had nine pages of this….

I’ve never seen this before on a screen, it’s the pub’s live Untappd feed. Given that I’m easily pleased, I decided to log-in and make my presence known to everyone who was looking at the screen. Which, realistically, was probably only me and I already knew that I was there. But, it kept me amused.

This is one of my contenders for favourite pub of the year, because the environment was welcoming, some thought had gone into the decor and the beer choice was marvellous. The service was friendly, it was a comfortable environment and there was a sense of excitement about the proceedings. All very lovely.

October 9, 2019
Liverpool – Sanctuary

I’m not sure that I’d have come across this pub if I hadn’t seen it listed in the Good Beer Guide, but it’s a relatively new opening for the city. It’s good to see that the signage promotes the pub as a “dive bar”, which seems to be a common attribution in the US, but can be seen as a negative one in the UK. The phrase should definitely be reclaimed as a force for good.

The cask and keg list.

The bottles and cans lists.

The Good Beer Guide book notes about this pub suggest that it’s designed to look like a “run-down 1920s hotel”, although I’m not sure that I’d have guessed this. The internal decor does give it character though.

The back bar. There were no staff visible when I entered, but the staff member who did come and serve when available was personable and seemed to know most of the customers. The whole pub vibe was welcoming and comfortable.

The pub regularly has the Plum Porter from Titanic Brewery on, which is one of my favourite beers, but I’d already had this at an earlier pub. So, I opted for the Stour Valley Old Growler, meaning I’d come all the way from Norfolk to have a Suffolk beer. But, all was well with it, at the appropriate temperature although the taste was perhaps unexceptional, but very drinkable.

All in all, a rather lovely little pub, and it has a micropub feel making it all on trend and contemporary, without it being formulaic or forced. Another pub which in my, rather irrelevant, view is quite rightly in the Good Beer Guide.

October 9, 2019