Two Liverpool Heritage Classics

Plenty of pictures and not much waffle (wahey!) as we arrive in Liverpool in the sunshine and head to a couple of the Heritage Classics.

On the way we passed a couple more...
Handy for Lime Street Station, the Crown, which I've visited in the past but just didn't have time for this time around...

And The Vines, the only one of the Liverpool classics which I haven't yet managed to visit. The staff setting up speakers outside the door and advertising karaoke, Guinness and fun weren't convincing me as we passed by later in the evening. 

Walking up Hardman Street we reached the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.  This Grade II listed building was opened in 1939 replacing an earlier building which was destroyed by fire in 1933.

And straight across the junction from the Hall is the Philharmonic Dining Rooms.

Entry from Hope Street is via the elaborate Art Nouveau metal gateway...

Philharmonic Dining Rooms (36 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BX - web)
Stepping inside, it's simply stunning.
Mosaic floors, carved plaster-work, decorative copper panels, stained glass, gleaming polished mahogany woodwork...
I've visited a number of times and it hasn't lost any of its ability to impress.

Brahms and Liszt - ah, see what you've done there...

The Philharmonic Dining Rooms was built between 1898 and 1900 for Liverpool brewer Robert Cain.  There's all the history and information about the pub that you'll ever need on the Heritage Pub listing.

As with all Nicholson's pubs I've visited post-lockdown, the beer range was functional rather than exciting.  Their own pale ale was available, as well as 'Wainwright', 'Landlord', Purity 'Ubu' and Northern Monk 'Eternal', which I picked.  A reliable session ale served in good condition -  good enough to get you in the beer guide in many places, but there's a lot of competition in these parts.

We took our drinks through to the largest space, the one-time billiards room, now named the Grande Lounge which, despite looking quiet in my picture, filled up shortly after we arrived.

Predictable picture of the Gents...
Well, at various times I've faffed around taking photos of tiling; urinals made out of beer barrels; odd art work & mild smut in pub WCs.   
I may as well take a picture in the one place I can probably get away with it...

Leaving the Philharmonic, we visited both the Anglican and Metropolitan cathedrals, which the Philharmonic sits midway between.

A short walk further on and we made it to another pub on the National Heritage list, this time one that I'm surprised I've never been to before.

Peter Kavanagh's (2-6 Egerton Street, Liverpool, L8 7LY)
Always trust a pub named after a long-serving landlord.
Peter Kavanagh was licensee from 1897 to 1950 and was responsible for the refurbishment of the pub in 1929 which makes it so special today.

The front door takes you to the drinking lobby and main bar counter.  To either side of this are characterful wood panelled rooms, with a lounge bar directly in front of it.
It's a pub with a fair bit of clutter...

Beers on the bar were 'Abbott', Woodford 'Wherry', Purity 'Gold' (the Purity's getting around isn't it) and my pick from Cheshire's Mobberley Brewhouse.

We took our drinks through to the stunning rear room, which we had all to ourselves.

The story goes that a customer ran up a bar bill that he couldn't pay and offered to pay off the debt by painting the pub.   The expectation was a lick of paint, but instead he set about creating the  sweeping murals above the fixed seating in the front and rear rooms.  Sadly, it's a myth - the paintings were commissioned from a Scottish painter, containing scenes from Dickens in the front room and Hogarth in the rear room...

The unusual tables, which intrigued us at the time, were designed by Peter Kavanagh himself, with a water filled bowl beneath the central circular grill for extinguishing cigarettes.

Just two great pubs to get us started in central Liverpool and a fearfully long list to try to find the time to get to.

Next Up: We make the most of the £5.60 Merseyrail Pass to explore Southend and Waterloo

No Frills, Handy for the Hills

In which we hop aboard the train from Sheffield and make a couple of stops in the Peak District, with Rock Mills Brewery and it's elusive opening hours our final target.

Mid-morning, grey skies and bitterly cold, our first stop was Bamford.
It's a fair trek from the train station to the village itself.  Bamford, home to around 1,250 folk, has the River Derwent flowing by its southern side and impressive steep hills rising behind it.  Not that we could see them, shrouded in the low cloud.

Anglers Rest (Main Road, Bamford, S33 0DY - web)
The Anglers Rest was purchased by the local community from Admiral Taverns back in 2013.  It's now a diverse local hub with a post office, small shop and cafe alongside the pub.  The bar is to the left side of the door, with Abbeydale, Bradfield and Acorn beers on the pump clips, and a couple of spacious rooms beyond.

But we arrived at 10:45am, 15-minutes before alcohol is served, and instead of waiting, we settled in the cafe and ordered coffees.
But I'm claiming the tick!  No VAR in the Southern Central Counties Pub Ticking League 😉

Coffee shop and PO side of the Anglers Rest

And the pub side

A quick hike back down to the station and we were on our way to Chinley, a 20 minute train ride away, passing Hope and Edale on the way.   

We made the short walk to Chinley's neighbour Whitehough.  Here you'll find two pubs, both owned by the same people: the Paper Mill Inn and the Old Hall Inn.  It was the second of these - a regular Beer Guide entry - which we headed to.

The Old Hall Inn (Whitehough, SK23 6EJ - web)
We sat in the front bar, warming ourselves next to a log burning stove in this charming pub which occupies part of the 16th century Whitehough Hall.
There was a good range of beers, from which I went for the most local option: a Whim Ales 'Hartington Bitter'.

The staff lit the second wood burner at the other end of the room, filling the bar with smoke as they did so.  "It does that", said the young lady (I'm sure it really shouldn't).  She struggled to try and open the window whilst the place filled with thicker and thicker smoke inducing the odd bout of choking.
The chef strode in as though he was going to make the magic adjustments to the stove and save the day, but it turned out he just wanted his lighter back.
So...they tried their best to smoke us out.  Or possibly kill us off.   But still, lovely pub. 

We decided we could walk the 4-miles to New Mills rather than head back for a third leg of the train journey.  This took us along a riverside path, then onto the Peak Forest Canal which we could follow all the way into New Mills.

This was the view I was looking forward to seeing, although I'd kinda been rooting for a blue sky background...

The town sits on higher ground above the Torrs, a 70ft gorge through which the rivers Goyt and Sett flow.  Coal mining was the first industry to reach the area, before cotton mills and print works were constructed in the late 18th century.

At the bottom of the gorge, by the splendid Torr Vale Mill, is the Millennium Walkway.  Cantilevered along the imposing wall of the railway embankment, then supported by pillars in the riverbed as it passes the weir, the walk along this is simply superb. 

Climbing up to town level, we strolled along the main street and made our way to the Masons Arms, which I'd decided looked the best of the town's half-dozen pubs.

Masons Arms (High Street, New Mills, SK22 4BR)
Previously a Robinsons pub, this was closed in 2017 prior to being refurbished and reopened as a free house later the same year.
Four hand pumps on the bar offered an interesting range of beers, but being a skinflint I could see no further than the £2 weekday afternoon special.  On this occasion it was a 'Red Mist', from Storm Brewing of Macclesfield.  And very good it was too.

I took no photo's of the interior of the Mason's Arms, as it had a fair few people in for the early hour, none of whom looked like they would appreciate being in my pictures.
So all you get is the fancy industrial lighting in the window... 

The bonus of being here at the beginning of the week was the chance to visit a Beer Guide entry with pretty restrictive hours.  The Rock Mill Brewery currently only opens from 5-8pm on a Monday and Tuesday.
It's also reasonably tricky to find, as we discovered when Google took us to a derelict barn on a street behind the brewery.  And the trouble with brewery taps is we stood looking at the derelict barn asking ourselves "D'you think that's it?  Dunno, could be".
We found the right place and managed to sneak in early...

Rock Mill Brewery (Unit 1b, Rock Mill Lane, New Mills, SK22 3BN)
"Are you open?"
The chap behind the bar, who turned out to be Rock Mill boss and brewer Ray, ushered us in even though he wasn't really ready for us, apologising that he'd put the 'bar open' sign out early.

This makes a nice change from those shiny modern tap rooms - opened in 2018, it's located in an old garage unit adjacent to the brewery itself, with two tables and a number of makeshift places to perch.
Changes may be afoot, as Ray told us that he has plans to expand into the space next door, and to increase the opening hours in the future.

There were four hand pumps across the bar, from which I tried the 'Back to the Future' 4% English bitter and 'Stars and Stripes' pale ale 3.9%.  Both were served with the care and pride you'd expect from the brewer and we enjoyed our drinks and time at Rock Mill. 

By the time we were drinking up and planning to head to the train station, there were a number of regulars arriving and it wouldn't take much to fill the place up.

The first time I heard of New Mills was a brief appearance in a Half Man Half Biscuit song.  But it turns out it's not just handy for the hills, it's a rewarding destination, with the walk through the Torrs being the highlight of the day.  All in all, we'd had a fine day out, all about to be topped off in Sheffield with a craft beer nightcap in the Crow.

Next up: PropUptheBar heads across to Liverpool and takes too many pictures of the Philharmonic.

Sheffield Pub Explorations

A second day in Sheffield, which was to include a former National Pub of the Year, heritage pubs, a crafty micro and a zapiekanka, whatever that is.

Our morning was spent learning about the Industrial Revolution and looking at some big steam engines in the Kelham Island Museum, handily around the corner from the Kelham Island Tavern...

Kelham Island Tavern (62 Russell Street, Sheffield, S3 8RW - web)
I think I've been here before, but I'm not entirely sure.  If I have, it would have been post-football on a Saturday afternoon and certainly wouldn't have been as quiet as we found it on this visit.  Other than us there are just a few chaps in the corner, a couple of folk sitting reading the paper, and the workmen traipsing through after parking their van out front to scupper my picture.

The Kelham Island Tavern won the accolade of CAMRA National Pub of the Year in 2008 and 2009, having only been saved from dereliction in 2002, years before all the modern building projects began to spring up in the area.
There was a fine range of beers covering various styles, with several from the local Blue Bee Brewery.  It was their US-style 6% IPA 'Life in a Glass House' which I opted for - good beer in top condition.

No-one propping up the bar

Mrs PropUptheBar was perusing her phone for food options whilst in the pub.  It seems the previous plan to look for Sheffield's best curry had been abandoned and she wanted Polish fast food.  And she wasn't to be deterred by a walk, although I don't think she realised quite how uphill that walk would be.

Finishing our beers, we hiked into the city suburbs and made our way up Pitsmoor Road.
It turned out the little European fast food joint we were headed to was located in a one-time pub (the Tollgate Inn, if my research is correct), now looking a little battered around the edges.

There's a food store to one side, whilst Zapiekarnia is through a door hidden away on the left hand side with 'Public Bar' etched in the glass.
We got to eat Zapiekanka - long open baguettes, especially designed to ensure that I spill half the topping down my shirt.   Tasty and enjoyable though, with the added bonus of Polish electro-folk played slightly too loud on the radio whilst we ate.

 

Taking a different route back down Rutland Road, we branched off on a footpath to the right, traversing the hillside.  Great views of Sheffield from up here - shame we didn't catch it in the sunshine.

Along these tracks we reached the old slopes of the ski village, abandoned since 2012 after being the victim of continued senseless vandalism and arson.
This was one of the first places I wobbled down unconfidently on a snowboard back in the nineties, so it's a shame to see its sorry fate.

Hmmm... lunchtime boozing, Polish fast food joints, tripping over treacherous bits of metal sticking out of derelict dry ski slopes...  I'm not going to get the gig writing the weekend newspaper travel section '24-hours in Sheffield' article, am I?

We headed back down through the Neepsend industrial buildings, resisting the temptation to pop back into Heist as we pass, then crossing the Don.  Beyond the tram lines was our next destination, the Wellington pub...

The Wellington (1 Henry Street, Sheffield, S3 7EQ)
We arrived just prior to the 3pm opening time, ready to be first in when the door was unbolted.  Which is nice for being able to amble around and take a couple of pictures, but I began to wish we'd seen it with a few more people and a buzz of conversation.  With no background music it was oh so quiet, except for the rattle of trams as they passed by outside.

Most of the ales came from Neepsend Brewery, although I picked the guest ale by the Nightjar Brew Co - 'Luigi and the Wise Guys' - picking my drinks based purely on wacky names.

The pub dates back to 1839, with changes to the layout made in 1940.  It feels every bit the unspoilt traditional city pub, consisting of two rooms and the bar in a drinking lobby.  There's nice fixed seating around the walls, proper pub stools and pictures and mirrors promoting by-gone brewing giants.

The beer mats were great, advertising the Neepsend Brewery with three different designs showing the pubs in the small Sheaf Inns chain: The Wellington, Sheaf View and Blake Hotel.
"Don't put it in your pocket, the guy at the bar is watching you like a hawk!" whispered MrsPropUptheBar.  And he was.  Crikey, I must look more suspicious that I thought.
I diligently asked if I could take some, and they're now ready to be added to the growing wall of beer mats in our spare room.

Uh-oh, the tegestologist in me is resurfacing!

We were in Pub Heritage mode, as we headed across the city in search of the Bath Hotel.

Which we found with its lights off and door firmly locked shut.  A quick search of their Facebook page and we found a message posted an hour before the scheduled opening time apologising that they'd be staying shut today.  Bah!

A Heritage back-up then...

The Grapes (80 Trippet Road, Sheffield, S1 4EL - web) 
Built in 1821, this is a traditional Irish pub which you'd probably guess if approaching from the side with the big Guinness mural.
Confusingly the pub sign reads 'Flynns' rather than the Grapes, this being a reference to the Flynn family who have owned the pub for over 40 years.  From experience, I tend to really like pubs with more than one name, and the windows were looking good...

The bar is situated down a lavish corridor with some nice tilework and colourful lampshades.  From here three rooms lead off, all with every bit of wall space filled with pictures and mirrors, rugby shirts and plates, and various other assorted bits 'n' bobs.  We settled down in the corner of the moodily-lit front room with a pint of the sole cask beer, Stancil Brewery's 'Barnsley Bitter'.  No complaints about the beer, which passed my quality test and went down well - a decent traditional best bitter.

The main corridor at the Grapes - liking those lampshades!

There was some decent background music in the Grapes - the Cranberries and Fontaines DC representing the Emerald Isle, Pulp representing Sheffield, and the Beatles and the Verve the North-West.

The Grapes has it's own place in Sheffield musical history - firstly as a folky music venue for many a year, with sessions still taking place regularly in the back room.  But mainly as the place that the Arctic Monkeys made their debut live appearance back in 2003.  They played a 25-minute set in the upstairs function room on the 13th June that year.

The Grapes proved an enjoyable pub visit, making up for the disappointment that the Bath Hotel wasn't open.

Just time to squeeze a crafty micro onto the end of the post (although not enough space, or good pictures, to include the subsequent walk in the dark to the Blind Monkey and Raven).

The Bar Stewards (163 Gibraltar Street, Sheffield, S3 8UB - web)
A bit of a contrast from the previous pubs, we followed the current Good Beer Guide and found our way to Bar Stewards - a micro with a range of cask and keg beers on offer.
The pressure is on to have a decent beer list when the Shakespeare is directly across the road...

13.5% banana impy stout - I don't even know why I bothering turning to Mrs PropUptheBar and asking what she wanted!

I picked the DEYA 'Meet me in the City' for myself, simply because it's not the Steady Rolling Man that I normally see.  

Mrs PropUptheBar persuaded me to go back for the Pomona Island 'Ti Esriever dna ti pilf', because we can't leave without trying an 11% Jamaican Ginger Cake stout.
Strewth - no wonder the picture is lop-sided and it took us so long to get up the hill to the Blind Monkey!

Next Up: A chilly diversion into the Peak District

Fagan's, Forest and the Fat Cat

Three Sheffield pubs, all happening to begin with 'F', plus three more modern venues which we visited alongside them, as our explorations of the city got off to a good start.

We arrived in a grey overcast Sheffield on a Sunday lunchtime, wandering the streets of the city centre, visiting the Winter Garden and learning all about steel in the Millennium Gallery. 
After which we declared it was a quite acceptable time to visit the pub, picking one with a striking mural on the side...

Fagan's (69 Broad Lane, Sheffield, S1 4BS)
The pub is named after Joe Fagan, a wartime bomber command pilot who went on to be a long-serving landlord here from 1947 to 1985, when it was known as the Barrel.
The interior hasn't changed much since a refit in 1953, except to add an extra room at the back which used to be private quarters.  The snug to the right of the entrance, named the Dram Shop, looks cosy and tempting, but I fancied sitting in the main bar alongside the handful of other customers.  Proper pub seating and wood panelled walls decorated with pictures of RAF planes.

I grabbed myself a pint of Abbeydale 'Moonshine', the other ale available being Tetley's.

Fagan's is a great old-school pub.  Forget ordering by scanning a QR code on your app - it was 'cash only' as we picked food from the snack menu, hand-written on a bit of paper and pinned to the notice board next to the bar.

We may have opted for a "snack" but our sandwiches were door-stoppers, with a portion of chips large enough to feed a small army.  Watching the enormous plates of fish 'n' chips and all-day brunch being delivered to the next table, this is somewhere to bring your appetite!

Next up, we walked a couple of minutes across the road and through an alleyway to find the Perch Brewhouse...

Perch Brewhouse (44 Garden Street, Sheffield, S1 4BJ)
A pretty dramatic change, then, from being sat in the traditional surroundings of Fagans.
Situated in an old workshop, Perch has high stools and canteen-style chairs in a modern rectangular room with fancy lighting and a retro PacMan video game. 

The Dead Parrot Beer Company is located in the yard behind the bar, with four of their beers available on cask when we visited.  An 'Aardvark Biscuit' 3.8% bitter was my pick, because putting 'biscuit' in the name is all it takes to sell it to me.  

The next planned stop was some way away... it involved a trek through Kelham Island and a walk up our first Sheffield hill.

The Forest (Rutland Street, Neepsend, Sheffield, S3 9PA)
As with the Perch, the idea to come here came from the Sheffield CAMRA guide to the cities breweries, where I'd spotted it was the tap for the nearby Toolmakers Brewery.

'Parked cars in way of pub picture'...one of an ongoing series

The Forest is a basic no-thrills boozer: cricket on the TV and a handful of locals putting the world to rights over a pint on a Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately most of those locals obviously had a Pub Seating Allergy, unable to tear themselves away from the bar to use any of the empty tables. 
And not one of them budged an inch to assist me getting to the bar to be served.
Not very welcoming - almost makes me nostalgic for last year's table service.

My second gripe was that the mild was undrinkable.  It was changed with no fuss, other than a sample being delivered to the landlord who agreed it was past it's best.
The replacement 'Battleaxe' bitter was okay, but I just didn't warm to the place on this visit.

The Forest wasn't Mrs PropUptheBar's favourite pub.
What was needed to cheer her up was craft beer, so it was handy that Heist was just down the hill...

Heist Brew Co (107 Neepsend Lane, Neepsend, Sheffield, S3 8AT - web)
A quick perusal of the menu and I'd spotted a peanut butter stout called 'When a Beer's so Lit it Turns you into a Bagel' - safe in the knowledge that someone was going to be happy.
There's plenty more to choose from, both Heist's own beers as well as interesting guests.  Sticking with thirds enabled us to try a few, including a quite marvelous 12% Imperial black IPA from Loch Lomond Brewery.

There are two beer halls adjacent to one another for busy times, but on our Sunday teatime visit just the main one was in action.  It's a super place with chunky bench seating, good-looking food coming out the kitchen, extreme skiing on TV and folks playing shuffleboard.
And an arcade corner, which is nicely out of the ordinary...

 

Leaving Heist, we headed back across the river and onto Green Lane, where we'd spotted the opportunity for more craft murk at SALT.  It's located next to the grand triumphal arch that once led into the Green Lane Works.

SALT (Unit 1, Green Lane Works, Green Lane, Kelham Island, S3 8SE - web)
Cask ale aficionados were being catered for with four hand pumps dispensing Ossett beers, but I fancied the chance to try one of SALT's own creations that didn't come in a can from Tesco.
This time I was being sensible after picking the strongest things in Heist - not even a normal IPA, but an 'IPA Junior', which was impressively flavoursome for its lower ABV.

Murk - the Citra NEIPA JR

Based in Saltaire in West Yorkshire, SALT have recently opened taprooms in Leeds and London as well as this Sheffield venture, unveiled in December '21.  The food offering from a hatch in the corner was from Bao Mesters, enabling us to accompany our beer with some tasty buns and gyozas.

 

'Say hello to Retired Martin' was on my list of things to do in Sheffield, so I was happy to get a message from him asking where we were, then saying he could be at the Fat Cat in 10 minutes.
Google Maps: 25 minutes, RM Speed:10 minutes.

Here's a picture of the Fat Cat from earlier in the day, as I've given up on night-time photography...

Fat Cat (23 Alma Street, Kelham Island, S3 8SA - web)
Not much needs saying about the Fat Cat (which is convenient, because I always run out of things to say about pubs by this stage...)
It's got Jarvis painted on one side and a colourful Fat Cat mural on the front which wasn't there last time I was in this neck of the woods.
The next door neighbours, Kelham Island Brewery, supply a number of the beers alongside guests - served on the top form that you'd expect from somewhere that attracts tickers from far and wide.

It was lovely to catch up with Martin, who probably missed some fine Sunday evening TV to come down the hill for a couple of pints with this tipsy idiot.  Luckily Mrs PropUptheBar was on hand to provide some intelligent conversation.

Oh goodness me, I don't really look like that do I?

This artists impression of me on the way back to the hotel, suffering the after-effects of the double IPA from Heist, is much more accurate...

More Sheffield in the next post, in which I head off the beaten track for Polish fast food and trek across town to find the Heritage Pub has decided not to open until we'd left town.
Cheers! 🍺