Carnarvon Castle, Liverpool

A delightful pub that opens at 10am for breakfast. I was here just after 11:30 and saw the last breakfast customer tucking in to his meal, with a glass of wine. I just had a half of Bombardier which was pretty good (NBSS 3.5, £4.60/pint). This is a friendly, welcoming pub. There's a nice fireplace opposite the bar, and a display case on the same wall with photographs of 20th century warships. There are six hand pumps with four beers on at the time of my visit, and Courage Directors turned around. Definitely a good place to take a break from a shopping trip, or anything else in the city centre.

The Carnarvon castle is a small and tidy pub with a wooden floored front bar with red painted walls that are adorned with framed photos of sporting events and the local area. There’s a high table in the front window and a U-shaped tile edged wood panel serving counter runs up the left opposite banquettes that run up the right to the rear wall. In the rear is a seating area with a red carpet that matches the walls in the bar and there was background noise throughout courtesy of a radio station. I counted six hand pumps on the counter in amongst the standard and premium keg. The Directors was off which left Ossett’s White Rat, Bombardier, Black Sheep Best, TT Landlord and Wainwright as the cask ale options. There was a decent crowd in attendance, especially for a Monday afternoon, so worth a look if passing.