The Volunteer Canteen, Liverpool

My favourite proper pub in Waterloo. A lovely unspoilt interior with two really good looking rooms. PSM describes it at length below, so I won't bother. Friendly staff and punters and a very good range of cask ale add to the attractions. I've been in here twice recently and all the beers I've had have been top notch. There's no table service in the pub anymore. Be aware that it doesn't open until 4 p.m. in midweek, which is the only negative for me, it's a cracking pub.

A real unspoilt backstreet local, this is. bar and lounge of very different character , with table service in the latter. Roaring fire and old school board games available. Four real ales on, two of which are guests. I had a good pint of 24 Carat Gold. quiet in the afternoon which made it even more relaxing to enjoy a pint.

Down a side street close to the beach and Anthony Gormley's 'Another Place' sculptures, this is a lovely old Higson's pub with a traditional two bar layout. The end of terrace property has been a pub since 1871 and sports the Higson's logo in its front windows. An etched glass door leads you into the smartly appointed lounge down the right hand side of the pub. This is a carpeted room which faces the rear of the servery with a couple of hatches for service along the right hand side. There are a few nice leaded panes above these hatches with diamond centres underneath a row of horse brasses. The lounge opens out the left where two large plush U-shaped banquettes run around the front and back sections of the room, split midway by a nice old fireplace with floral patterned tile work. To the front left there are a couple of large bookcases filled with old bound tomes and a few tatty modern paperbacks. In between the two bookcases is a cabinet filled with all sorts of interesting but seemingly unrelated artefacts including an unusual Saudi Arabian salver. Elsewhere, the walls have been decorated with lots of informative old black and white photos of the local area and a large map of the Merseyside coast. A collection of board games was stacked under one of the tables and I spotted some old bed pans and a couple of duelling pistols hung from the walls. The public bar is on the right side of the pub, this time with the servery facing it and there are similar bookcases and cabinets on the end wall but limited seating mainly supplied by a long bench down the right hand wall. There is a dartboard to the rear and lots of nice dark wood fixtures making it look a lot smarter than your average public bar. I entered into the lounge bar, from which there is no sign of any handpulls, so the barman patiently listed the options for me, only for me to later spot a blackboard listing them all. The ale range comprised Sharps Doom Bar, Heavy Industry Forza, Thwaites Wainwright and a beer from Peerless, which I forgot to note the name of. It was the Peerless beer that I ended up trying and it was a very pleasant pint which, in keeping with the pub's tradition, the barman brought over to my table. A few bell pushes can still be spotted around the room and although they are out of action these days, this is one of the few pubs that still provides table service in a traditional pub environment. This is a classy pub that is really worth seeking out to have a good look around. The relatively untouched interior creates a wonderful environment within which to enjoy some well kept beer and I found it very easy to settle down here and was loathe to leave after just one pint. With the local beer scene overrun by micropubs in recent years, the Volunteer Canteen remains a reassuring traditional option that is well worth making the effort to seek out.

Hidden away down a back street this is a nice 2 roomed pub. The 4 handpumps are in the small room to your right with a hatch area in the bigger room available to order your beer. It a decent pub and very friendly. If you're not happy then there are some old pistols above the arch in the room to your left should you carry any gunpowder with you.