Blackpool By Numbers

 

How not to do a pub crawl...
In which I picked the places in Blackpool with numbers-for-names and tried to trek around 'em all.

I didn't even manage to complete the numerical pub name mission - I walked past the No.3 Sports Bar a couple of times on my travels but never crossed the threshold... 

Walk a little further eastbound on Newton Road from No.3 and you'll reach No.4.

No 4 (Layton Road, Blackpool, FY4 8ER - web)
This was previously called the Freemasons Arms, being as the local Masons conducted their first meeting at a pub that stood on this site.

Inside it consists of an L-shaped room with one slightly raised area, the bar also having a back counter to serve a games room to the rear.

'A brilliant range of Cask Marque ales', says their website.
Hmmm, depending on whether you consider Thwaites 'Wainwright' and Ringwood 'Thumper' to be brilliant.
Oh well...the Wainwright was okay, the entertainment - 90's Biggest Video Hits on a mega-size screen, not so much so.
Was Shabba Ranks 'Mr Loverman' really one of the biggest hits of the 90's?
Was it really what I wanted to be listening to on an afternoon pub visit?

Nope.  I finished my beer and crisps and set out to the next pub on the list.

A fairly long walk, thanks to the bus times not quite working out, took me to No.10...

No 10 Alehouse (258 Whitegate Drive, FY3 9JW - web)

This was Blackpool's first micro pub (they're multiplying at a rate of knots now).

Despite it only being 15-minutes after opening time when I arrived, most of the outdoor tables were taken, mainly by what appeared to be a youth football team associated with the pub. 
Someone had the mop and bucket out, cleaning up the first glass fatality of the day.
And the music was pumping - dubious modern pop hits that weren't any better than Shabba.

Not much cask being sold to the young folk, who were missing out on a great range.
Titanic 'Chocolate and Vanilla Stout', Reedy Hallows 'New Zealand Pale', Banks's 'Sunbeam' for the traditionalists.
And my pick, Lancaster Brewery 'Zeus' 4.1%, a light, easy-going, single-hopped ale, served in fine condition.

Local football allegiance

Returning to the centre of town, I headed one street back from the seafront, behind Madame Tussauds and Happy Dayz amusements, onto Bonny Street where you'll find Number 13...

No 13 Bonny Street (13 Bonny Street (funnily enough!), Blackpool, FY1 5AR)
In 2015, when I was here for the football, this pub was called the Pump and Truncheon and was the only entry that wasn't Wetherspoon's on my very short Blackpool real ale pub list.

That previous name came from it's proximity to the police station and law courts, making it a regular haunt of the local constabulary.
After a change of ownership, a refurb, and a name change, it reopened in 2019.

I liked it here - it had a bit of old ale house character, with wooden pillars and floors, pool table and a crowd mainly made up of aging rockers.
Pity none of us could be trusted with glassware though, with all beers being served up in plastic pint pots...

A nice simple choice of Black Sheep, Dark Star or the local one.
I stuck local with my second beer of this trip from Morecambe's Cross Bay Brewery.

Number 13 was almost unlucky for me, as I came close to being clobbered by the door whilst trying to take a photo in the loos.  Which frankly serves me right.

But you don't get pictures of the gent's beer barrel urinals on Blackpool Jane's blog... 

...on second thoughts, maybe you do - she's very thorough.

Just one more numerically named place for me to visit.

Bar 19 serves as an example as to why it pays to use an up-to-date copy of the beer guide.  This was an entry back in the 2019 Guide at the time it was being crowned the Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre CAMRA Pub of the Year.

Bar 19 (19 Queen Street, FY1 1NL)
Crikey, this was really the best in the region three years back?

My picture was taken when the karaoke compere and gang on the nearest table had all stepped outside to smoke.  Bar staff too by the looks of it...

At the back was a raucous family group enjoying some kind of celebration.  Balloons got occasionally burst with a loud bang, scaring the living daylights of the old-boy drinkers.
Tone-deafness was no obstacle as folks took their turns on the karaoke, whilst the chap in charge of it came out with adult-rated between song banter.

Sat with my JW Lees bitter, as someone belted out Rod Stewart's 'Sailing', I felt utterly out of place, thinking to myself that my pub explorations had really hit rock bottom. 

At least I only had to part with £2.30 for a pint of bitter...

Try asking what you can get for £2.30 at the Head of the River back in Oxford.  A packet of crisps, if you're lucky.

I suspect I missed a couple of other Blackpool pubs with numbers for names.
But y'now what? I'd done enough.
Silly idea for a pub crawl anyway.

Rebellion Blackpool

A quick visit to an excellent micropub, before I fill this post with a handful of pictures from Rebellion 2022...

The Cask & Tap was just a couple of minutes walk from the Winter Garden, the main festival venue, and was permanently busy with punk rockers for four days, as far I could tell. 

Cask & Tap (82 Topping Street, FY1 3AD - web)
Opened in September 2020, this is a smart single room bar, with fancy embossed wallpaper and some intriguing light fittings constructed from old radio equipment.

The eight hand pumps on the bar were all in use, dispensing a wide range of styles, alongside a good choice of proper cider and a bit of craft.
Beers changed between my visits - I reckon they shifted a fair few casks over this weekend.  
I stuck to the dark beers, the Blackedge stout and Durham 'Dark Arts' being highlights. 

There's no TV or music, but if there was you'd have to had turned it up pretty loud to be heard above the chatter of this lot...

The Cask & Tap was arguably the best place near the Winter Gardens for a quality beer.
Closely followed by the 1887 Brew Room and Albert's.

Inside the venue, the novelty Spanish galleon decor of Sharky's Bar is eye-catching, but after parting with £4.80 for a tasteless Worthington Creamflow, I decided once was enough.

Then I discovered the little craft beer stall in the foyer, run by Lancashire locals Farm Yard Brewery.
Pricey, yep.  Not beer to quaff in one go or spill on your shoes when Stiff Little Fingers come on stage.  But the 'Chaff' session IPA was full of flavour and worth spending the extra money on.

The Empress Ballroom was the most impressive of the four main indoor stages, even if I never did manage to get a picture that did it justice...

Of the old skool punk bands, it was Sham 69 I wanted to see the most, and they didn't disappoint...

"Hurry up Harry, we're going down the pub!"

But it was something a bit different from Bob Vylan which really blew me away.  Promoted to the Ballroom stage in the frightfully early hours of Sunday morning, way past my bedtime, but well worth staying up for.

Whilst the Almost Acoustic stage offered some more sedate entertainment, in a bizarre fairy-tale setting...

Great to see Peter Hook & The Light playing a set of Joy Division songs on the R-Fest stage...

Although an outdoor stage with a lovely sunset under Blackpool Tower was a bit of an odd setting for tracks like 'Dead Souls'.

And I also tried to catch a few acts that I knew less about, such as Rum Kicks providing a bit of K-Punk...

Heavy Lungs and John...

 

If the organisers don't give your band enough stage time on the bill, you can always follow the example of Dalston duo Glitchers, who parked their van in front of the Winter Gardens and knocked out a raucous afternoon set to anyone passing by.

I thought I was pretty accustomed to some noisy music, but by Day 4, another set of guitar and drums cranking up, my brain was rattling loose in my head.
Great then to be able to retire to the calm of the Literary stage on Sunday evening to hear the one-and-only Stuart Pearce chatting about punk rock and football.

An exhausting few days, but I'd happily rewind and do it all again!

The Jolly Tars, a Dark Flagon & the Levellers

The first of several posts exploring a bit of the Fylde coast from Cleveleys to Lytham: beaches, piers, amusement arcades; Wetherspoons, micro pubs and punk rock!

I headed to Blackpool for the Rebellion Festival, despite my being the least likely of punk rockers.
Plenty of blurry pictures of noisy bands, but before any of that I set out to make the most of a travel pass and discover what the places up and down the coast had to offer.

Starting with Cleveleys, four miles north of Blackpool...
First stop: Spoons...

The Jolly Tars (154-158 Victoria Road West, Cleveleys, FY5 3NE - web)
This opened in 2011, a conversion of an unremarkable 50's building that was previously a Kwik Save supermarket.

Ooooh...Phoenix 'Wobbly Bob' among'st the guest ales - but it was early doors and I suspected the long day ahead would be seriously derailed by starting on a 6%er.
I stuck instead to the Cross Bay pale ale, 'Halo' - a good pick: plenty of hoppy flavour, smooth, and easy going.

The Jolly Tars is a pleasant Wetherspoon pub, with booths and bookshelves dividing the room and providing cosy corners and homely drinking areas as an alternative to regimented rows of tables. 

And the odd name?  That relates to a family of entertainers called the Jolly Tars Concert Party who would put on shows on Cleveleys prom for the enjoyment of large crowds in the 1920's and 30's.

It was just a couple of minutes walk down the road, toward the sea front, to the town's second current Good Beer Guide entry.

The Shipwreck Brewhouse (53 Victoria Road West, Cleveleys, FY5 1AJ - web)
Rather than the sprawling trad brewpub I was expecting based on the name, this is a bright, cheerful micropub/cafe on the main shopping thoroughfare.

The fine weather had tempted a crowd of mostly tea and coffee drinkers onto the sunny outdoor tables.  Leaving me with a few spots to choose from in the small single room.

I settled down with a pint of 'Karma Citra' from Wigan brewery Wily Fox, Dire Straits 'Romeo and Juliet' playing in the background.
Always trust somewhere that's playing Dire Straits... unless it's 'Money for Nothing'.

The other cask ales, in a line-up of five, were
Rock the Boat 'Fab Four', Ossett 'Blonde', Ossett 'Butterfly', and Wily Fox 'Dark Flagon'.

The two ladies at the next table brought the gent who was with them a bacon butty and a pint of porter, then left him in charge of the dog whilst they popped to the shops.
What would he make of his rum porter, having originally asked if they had Guinness?
"Ahhh, that's nice - might just have another pint of that whilst you're shopping."
"Oh no you won't," he was told in no uncertain terms.

Well, I really had to try the rum porter for myself.  And it was gorgeous.  A lovely sweet, rich boozy porter which gave the impression of being much stronger than its 4.4% ABV.

Moving on from this great little bar, I thought I'd better have a look at the sea whilst I was at Cleveleys.
Past the last shops on Victoria Road where the life-size CHiPs figure caught my eye.
Was it for sale?  And could I get it home on the train?...

It's a very peaceful seafront here, with residential houses looking out onto it; a wide promenade with a few walkers and joggers, and an ice cream van, in stark contrast to the amusement arcades, neon lights, and hustle & bustle just down the coast.

Heading back to Blackpool on the tram it was time to watch some live bands at the festival.
This year Rebellion has expanded to an outdoor stage on the front under the Tower.  An extra venue you could get into with a weekend wristband, whilst also running as a stand-alone event called R-Fest.

On subsequent days for the likes of Gary Numan, the Undertones and Peter Hook, it did get fairly busy.  But on Thursday there was ample room - plenty of space to do a silly jig to Dreadzone's 'Little Britain' whilst pretending it's still 1996.

Hawkwind managed to arrive on stage whilst I'd popped to use the facilities - top marks for the sound system on this stage, as 'Leviation' sounded great in the portaloo.
Getting a more traditional vantage point, I really quite enjoyed the veteran space rockers.
Hawkwind squeeze a lot of psychedelic noodling into a 65-minute set, playing in front of some colourful trippy visuals on a big screen.

Headlining the R-Fest on the first day was The Levellers.   
It's over 30 years since they released 'Leveling the Land', an album that I loved, and which set me off hitch-hiking around the UK in army surplus boots. 
That was my 'crusty' era, traveling to far off places to see bands, a free spirit, roaming the land...at least until I ran out of clean socks and pants and needed to go back to my mum's.

The Levellers are still good fun live today, even if they are a little bit chubbier, play a little bit slower, and are a little bit less incendiary than that first time I saw them at Rock City.

Hmm...it's standing out like a sore thumb that I really hadn't seen much PUNK ROCK yet at this Punk Rock Festival. 
That needed to remedied.  So expect a whole bunch of pictures of bands who look much noisier than the Levellers in the next blog post.
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