City Centre
At the Liverpool City Region Tourism Awards 2021, the Denbigh Castle won the Pub of The Year Award and Gerard Madden of the Bridewell won Unsung Hero. Congratulations to everyone involved. The Bridewell is also Liverpool and Districts CAMRA Pub of The Year. Hannah McGuire (the Bridewell) tells us ‘we were delighted that The Bridewell won’.
Café Beligica opened on Wood Street in late November, they have a good range of bottled Belgian beers on the menu. www.cafebelgica.co.uk
Sadly, not much good news for cask, as several pubs have stopped stocking it, including the Black Bull, in Walton, the Beer Engine on Hardman Street in the City Centre, and the new Greene King pub on Lime Street; Lime Street Central which is keg only.
On a more positive note, a new manager for Stonegate has promised more local cask beer such as ‘Rock the Boat’ in their Liverpool pubs. Stonegate pubs in the city centre are the William Gladstone, the Flute, and Yates on Queens Sq. and in the suburbs, the George in Crosby They also run the Valentine at Aintree which, after its refurbishment, has now got a better range of beers including Rock the Boat and a cider on the handpumps.
Sanctuary Bar on Lime Street has now reopened under new management. The pub is now run by Liverpool Brewing Company limited and has 7 cask lines and 8 keg lines.
The Belvedere has also now reopened with the lease being taken over by Liam Riley. The two upstairs rooms have been furnished so that they can now be used for functions, there is additional seating, and new benches and tables have been installed in the street. The four hand pumps often have local beers on and locally made pies are also available.
Sadly the Keystone Pub on Hope Street has now closed.
Smithdown Road.
There’s a new craft and cask pub called The Crafty Swine on Smithdown Rd. It’s a revamp of Tribeca and is run by the same people as the Three Piggies. It has two hand pumps serving beers such as Carnival and loads of craft keg.
Also Evil Eye Beer and Burrito Shack closed in October.
Crosby
Firkin Friday at the Crow's Nest. Cask beer fans visiting the Crow's Nest on a weekend may find a beer from a local brewery on one of the pumps. Every Friday finds a firkin (nine gallons) of a LocAle on the bar, in addition to one or two from the usual Heineken guest list. The team has negotiated with their pubco to allow the trialling of a locally brewed beer, initially just on the weekend to see how sales go. CAMRA members put together a list of local breweries, and suggested beers that would suit the palates of the Crow's customers. Since the trial started in late February beers from Rock the Boat, Neptune, Southport, Big Bog, and the Liverpool Brewing Company have been enjoyed. If the guest beer policy proves popular hopefully it can be extended beyond the weekend. Why not pop in a see what is on offer? So remember Firkin Friday - when its gone, its gone.
