The Railway, Liverpool

Official site of The Railway - www.therailwayliverpool.com

Close to Moorfields station and opposite the former Exchange station, the appropriately named Railway is a fine old Victorian pub, albeit with a rather more restrained interior than in the magnificent Lion next door. You enter into a bare boarded room with a staple shaped servery along the left hand wall. The bar has a lovely curved dark wood counter with a smart brass rail and a series of struts supporting a beautiful leaded stained glass canopy bearing the pub's name. To the front left is a dark wood panelled area with an old lamp stand in one corner and a couple of tables, but a lack of natural light makes it a bit of a gloomy spot and these were the only free tables in the entire pub. A nice long bench stretches beneath the front windows which have some panes appended to them depicting various famous trains. Singer sewing machines and old wireless radios fill the window sills and a nice snug of sorts, flanked by modern etched glass partitioning screens, has been created in a former corner entrance porch. Another bench runs down the right hand wall with board games stacked behind it and there were a couple of TV screens on showing muted Loose Women whilst Coldplay dribbled out of the sound system. The room narrows past the bar before opening out again into three distinct rooms, all carpeted and full of decent lounge furniture. Walls have mainly been painted grey or other neutral colours but things are brightened up a bit by stained glass partitioning screens, mirrors, tiled fireplaces and mounted animal heads. Banquettes, armchairs, low stools and standard chairs provide a good mix of seating options and each space had its own bit of character, making these prime spots to bag, although most folk back here seemed to be eating on a Thursday lunchtime visit. The ale range is still a little limited but there were three handpulls in operation serving Robinsons Trooper, Sharps Doom Bar and Weetwood Best Bitter, with Robinsons Dizzy Blonde having recently gone off. My pint of the Trooper was in good shape and I was served by one of the friendly, no nonsense barmaids who seemed to be running the place pretty efficiently and enjoyed some good banter with the old boys sat in the front bar. This is a nice old pub that is well worth a bit of exploration although it suffers a little from having some top quality historic pubs in close proximity. Taken on its own merits, this is an attractive old pub with some nice, cosy spots that are probably best appreciated if you can avoid peak dining hours. A good option to include on a crawl around this part of the city and a pub I'm sorry I took so long to get round to visiting.

Popped in here on Tuesday lunchtime and the pub was busy with office workers having lunch. I do like this pub for it's traditional Victorian interior, with the splendid ceiling work and the smaller rooms to the rear. The staff are pleasant and ales are well kept. The ale choice is limited though.