March 2007 Archives
The Dispensary, Birkenhead
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 26, 2007 2:33 PM
Birkenhead has always been something of a Cinderella town, forever in Liverpool’s shadow and the butt of jokes by stand up comics.
Certainly during the 1980s when the ‘Pool was going through its own economic crisis the “one-eyed city” across the water was arguably going through an even worse time lending credence to that old cliche that it’s grim oop North.
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The Beehive, Liverpool
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 5:25 PM
The Beehive, Paradise Street, Liverpool Jan 6 2007
by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post
THERE are old pubs which can be compared to the stubby veteran defender who will stand his ground in a defensive wall, despite being muscled by the towering younger strikers to the right and the left.
The feisty Beehive on Paradise Street is like that.
Defiantly quaint and welcoming, it puffs out its chest in outstanding contrast to the garish chrome/glass fashion palace Zara on one side, and the mundane frontage of the Leisure Time amusement arcade on the other.
Set in the heart of the department stores quarter, its nearest equivalent is the marvellous Carnarvon Castle nearby, where at particular times of the day the floor is a minefield of fit-to-bust Scouse briefcases (that's plastic bags to you) as weary shoppers take a break to have a sup and a bite to eat.
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Greave Dunning, Greasby, Wirral Jan 13 2007
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 5:20 PM
by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post
IT SOUNDS like one of those names used in old British monochrome movies set in a public school where an excited headmaster bellows: "Greave Dunning!!!!! Get yourself to my study for an immediate sound thrashing."
Greave Dunning is in fact not some snooty little oik, but the intriguing moniker for an intriguing boozer near the heart of the ancient Wirral village of Greasby.
Ancient is a much overused and abused word in a modern world obsessed with change and celebrity numb nuts.
But Greasby qualifies as the real thing. The earliest recorded human settlement in the Merseyside area was near Greasby Copse, where excavations suggested that it dated back to 7,000 BC.
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The Gothic, Gatley, Stockport Jan 20 2007
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 5:15 PM
AFTER last week's Greave Dunning interlude about intriguing pub names and the images they conjure, here's another one to ponder.
The Gothic.
A subterranean refuge for fright-haired lookalikes of The Cure's Robert Smith and Lily Munster supping pints of Guinness to a soundtrack of Bauhaus's classic Goth nonsense, Bela Lugosi's Dead, immediately springs to mind.
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Flanagan's Apple, Liverpool
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 5:10 PM
Flanagan's Apple, Mathew Street, Liverpool Feb 3 2007
by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post
IT'S always a bit of a hung jury when it comes to Irish-themed pubs, to be sure, to be sure.
Get it right like Pogue Mahone, on Seel Street, with its thoughtful collection of Gaelic football team shirts proudly displayed along the walls and you're on to a winner.
Get it wrong with an over emphasis on cliché - Guiness overload, ear-shattering tape loops of diddley-diddley music and bar staff dressed as leprechauns - then it's a no-no, especially if you happen to be Irish yourself.
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The Old Fort, Liverpool
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 5:05 PM
The Old Fort, Prescot St, Liverpool Feb 10 2007
by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post
WE USED to joke about The Old Fort. It was dubbed The Old Fart, not so much for the nature of its clientele, but because it looked like your average crumbly, gradually falling apart.
Which indeed it was.
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Liverpool Beer Festival - on the night
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 4:52 PM
Thatls the way to do it! Feb 17 2007
by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post
"YOU lucky get - I wish I had your job. Going to pubs and writing about beer all day. I bet I could do it.
"Go on, gizzit!"
This is the desperately romantic view of a Yosser Hughes replicant who occasionally crosses this path. Apart from the fact that this column only takes up a microscopic speck of the working week, he may find that the reality is a little different from what he expects.
There are, however, compensations.
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The Ravenscroft, Heswall
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 4:47 PM
The Ravenscroft, Heswall Feb 24 2007
by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post
"I CRIED the day Peelie died," said Hailey, the charming ticket hostess at Rice Lane station, a dark shadow crossing her usually smiling face.
We were talking as the Pub Column prepared to embark on a Merseyrail journey to visit Heswall and the new pub named in honour of the late great broadcaster, The Ravenscroft.
Peelie - or John Robert Parker Ravenscroft as he was less well known - was born in Heswall Cottage Hospital on August 30, 1939, and grew up to become something of a hero to any music fan who just happened to be a Red as well.
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Liverpool Beer Festival 2007
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 4:37 PM
Well up to scratch Mar 3 2007
by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post
THE Scratchers have been, seen and conquered. But who or what are the Scratchers?
Well, they are the real ale equivalent of the Twitchers (birdwatchers) and the Anoraks (trainspotters) who invaded Liverpool a fortnight ago for the biggest and best of beer festivals the city's ever staged.
The name is derived from the habit of carrying a small notebook inside their polyester jackets (uniformly beige - Fashion Ed) which they whip out to scribble, or scratch, with wetted pencil a description of the brew that they're supping.
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The Herculaneum Bridge, Dingle
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 4:28 PM
The Herculaneum Bridge, Herculaneum Road, Riverside Mar 10 2007
by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post
YOU can stuff your Paris in the spring - there's only one place to be at this time, and it's here in Liverpool.
With the sun beaming down from a cloudless sky and a mellow salt-sprayed wind wafting in off the Mersey Bar, it was time to emerge butterfly like from the dungeons of Castle Greyskull and take a short trip across town to another pub with a fascinating name to conjure with.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Herculaneum Bridge.
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The Moorcock Inn
Posted by Mike Chapple on March 21, 2007 4:11 PM
THE Pub Column never sleeps. Even though Yours Truly was on a welcome holiday break from Castle Greyskull, the spare time was put to good use, boldly going to boozers that other columns cannot reach.
The first expedition as the week dawned was with The Old Man into the oyster bed of pubs in the wilds of West Lancashire.
Up to now, this has always trawled up pearls.
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This page contains an archive of all entries posted to At The Bar in the March 2007. They are listed from oldest to newest.
April 2007 is the next archive.Many more can be found on the home page or by looking through the archives.
"Me again!!! So many memories have come flooding ba..."
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"The LORD WORDAN has A new licensee who is making u..."
"I WAS DELIGHTED TO READ MIKE CHAPPELS ARTICLE ABOU..."