Advertiser Life All hail to the alehouses in beer guide
SEVENTEEN pubs from Southport and West Lancashire have been included in the Good Beer Guide 2019.
Each year, consumer group the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) produces its list recommending venues across the country serving the best real ale and the 2019 list has again proved good reading for local beer lovers.
In the latest edition, which was published this week, 10 Southport pubs and bars have been honoured, along with a further seven from West Lancashire.
The Good Beer Guide 2019 is compiled through independent judgement and recommendations, and every pub that appears has been visited regularly by Camra members.
No pub pays to be included in the guide, every pub featured is visited at least once for assessment.
Among those to be included is the Barrel House in Birkdale Village.
The owners, Martin and Pam Bos, transformed their village newsagents into the bar and cafe four years ago as they prepared for the impact of a Sainsbury’s shop which was due to be open nearby.
The Barrel House has since proved hugely popular with locals and has been included in the guide for two years running.
Georgina Gillen, who works at The Barrel House, said: “It’s great for us to be included because being a small business, something like this is great publicity for us.
“We pride ourselves on serving good beer and being a community bar where everyone is welcome, including dogs. To be included again, it’s a sign that what we are doing is working and it’s great news for us.”
Another to make the grade was the Peaky Blinders bar on Lord Street in Southport. The bar, themed on the BBC TV series set in the 1920s, has been well received since opening in 2015 and the owners have since opened additional bars in Liverpool and Churchtown.
Owner Rob Swire said that while the summer brings lots of visitors to the town, maintaining high standards to keep the regulars returning is vital to the business.
“We like to supply a comprehensive range of drinks and the cask ales are a vital element of that,” he said.
“We do focus on cleaning the lines and preparing the casks and storing them correctly and the end result is we get good feedback like this. It’s very much a local market we’re in. As good as it is to get the extra trade in, we’ve got lots of regulars who are really important to us.”
The region’s pubs featured in this year’s guide are: Birkdale
The Barrel House, Road. Burscough
The Hop Vine, Liverpool Road North. Hillside
Grasshopper, Sandon Road. Lathom
The Ship Inn, Wheat Lane. Mawdesley
The Red Lion, New Street. Ormskirk
The Court Walk. The Cricketers, Chapel Street. The Tap Room No 12, Burscough Street. Scarisbrick
Heatons Bridge Inn, Heatons Bridge Road. Southport Barons Bar, Lord Street. The Bottle Room, Lord Street. The Guest House, Union Street. Peaky Blinders, Lord Street. The Phoenix, Coronation Street. Sir Henry Segrave, Lord Street. Tap and Bottles, Cambridge Walk. The Willow Grove, Lord Street. Liverpool Leet, Wheatsheaf