The Monro, Liverpool

Since my last visit, it has been whacked through into next door and given a very traditional Irish style pub interior, though the holes in the ceiling seem a bit excessive? Not to worry, it carries a lot of atmosphere and now a vast range of real ales as well. I was initially a bit underwhelmed by the selection but I then continued to the far end of the bar where there were some more options. A good pub now, one to consider for your crawls of the area.

The Monro has been closed for a number of years, but has recently re-opened as what I believe is the 6th of a chain of pubs which also includes the nearby Red Lion, the Vines, the Queen of Hope Street and the White Hart. The group behind these pubs have done a good job of restoring pubs and the Monro seemingly has the biggest cask ale range of them all yet. The pub has quite a traditional, but well worn feel. The ceiling is missing in places. I assume this is intentional to make it look even older than it is! There are a couple of different levels that I saw, but we stayed on the entrance level, which has a long bar with all of the cask options along it. Make sure you continue to the far end as there are more handpulls there. In all, the cask selection was Titanic Plum Porter, Carnival Pacesetter, Salopian Shropshire Gold, Brimstage Scarecrow, Ossett White Rat & Yorkshire Blonde, Theakston Quencher, Weetwood Eastgate, Pennine Roaring Ale, Abbeydale Daily Bread, Bowland Pheasant Plucker, Black Lodge Baltic Best, Timothy Taylor Golden Best & Northern Monk Eternal. A further handpull had Lilley's Mango Cider. A decent cask ale range. Although a dark beer would have been nice. Whilst our visit was on a Saturday evening, the Monro was extremely busy for a newly re-opened pub. It's been many years since I was last in here and the changes that have been made since Marston's had the pub do seem for the better. This is another good addition to Liverpool city centre's nightlife. I'm sure I'll be back again soon.

I’d expected this street corner city centre pub to be a down to earth local’s boozer, so it was a bit of a shock to discover upon entry that this is a very smartly presented gastro pub. The pub’s name is taken from the MV James Munro – the first regular scheduled transatlantic ship to sail between Liverpool and New York (the ship in turn was named after the fifth president of the US, James Monroe, albeit with the final ‘e’ dropped). The main space for drinkers is around the entrance, where you’ll find a bare boarded area with comfy banquettes along the right hand wall and some well upholstered chairs elsewhere. The front door has a nice etched glass ‘Welcome’ sign which also bears the image of the eponymous ship. The bar appears midway along the left hand wall and has a very high counter with a white panelled counter front and adjustable height bar stools, whilst the plain wood bar back and metal framed canopy round out the servery fittings. Walls are a mix of white tongue and groove panels and purple brick pillars and in the front left corner you’ll find a nice fireplace and decorative partitioning screen which are both shared by the left hand dining room. This side room is carpeted and accessed via two steps at the near end of the bar. Floral wallpaper prevails in here along with more purple pillars, nautical themed paintings and photos and a nice plaster relief of an historical scene. Back in the main room, you pass the servery and a couple of old naval Union Jacks into an opened out space set up as another smart dining area. More floral wallpaper abounds and I also spotted an attractive etched glass doorway signed for the ‘Garden’. Music, inevitably including tunes from the Beatles, played quietly throughout my stay, but pleasingly the main noise to be heard was low level chatter from other customers. The pub serves beers from the Marstons portfolio and three of their ales were available on handpull – Wychwood Hobgoblin Gold, Marstons EPA and Brakspear Bitter, with a fourth pump unused. My pint of EPA was decidedly average and the staff were pleasant enough without looking like they want to interact with their customers in anything but the most perfunctory exchanges. This is probably a nice place to stop off for a decent bite to eat, but it really didn’t work as part of a pub crawl and whilst I was able to settle down surprisingly well, I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm to linger. An inoffensive enough place but drinkers are much better served by countless other options within a short distance.

Fine of an afternoon, heavily food orientated of an evening. 4 real ales available and pleasant enough.