Ye Hole in Ye Wall, Liverpool

Visited back in April on a Friday afternoon. As previous reviewers have noted, this claims to be the oldest pub in Liverpool, and this year has celebrated its 300th birthday. It's certainly a nice traditional feeling place inside, with plenty of dark wood and stained glass, as well as an impressive old fireplace. At the bar, four cask ales were on, there may also have been one or two additional that were unclipped. My Facers Plum Porter set me back £2.50 for a half, and was very enjoyable. Service was OK but there was an obvious focus on the locals propping up the bar. They appear to do a cheeseboard / ploughmans type plate and the barmaid was sharing one with two blokes at the bar. Later someone came round with a tray of sandwiches looking for the rightful customer, so looks like there is a food menu of sorts although I didn't see anything advertised. Gents are basic but functional and possibly of some age, or at least the doors here look old, though perhaps not 300 years old. Another of Liverpool's 'must do' pubs and I'd have nothing against the idea of a return visit at some point in the future.

Ye Hole in Ye Wall is purported to be Liverpool’s oldest public house and to be honest I saw nothing inside the dimly lit interior to suggest otherwise. The serving counter runs along the front wall to the right of the entrance where standard and premium keg are supported alongside six hand pumps that were drawing Black Sheep’s Best and Respire, Liverpool Brewing’s Fresh Start and Lancaster Brewery’s Lancaster Amber and Lancaster Black. Opposite the entrance is a nice brown banqueted snug with patterned lead lined windows and wood panelled walls, this is décor that runs throughout the pub. The serving counter faces a beer shelf that runs across a lead lined window topped partition that separates the bar area from a second, but larger, banquette seating area that runs across the rear wall. On the right-hand wall is an impressive fireplace with a large copper hood. The service was polite and I enjoyed my Monday evening visit, but it would have been even better if the likes of Cold Play weren’t being played at quite a high volume through the speaker system.

A lovely old side street pub with six handpumps in all with three beers on offer during my visit, Parkway Blood & Fire, Hawkshead Gold and Lancaster Lancaster Black.

Lively atmosphere the time of my Monday afternoon visit - a sentence I cannot recall using before. It's a lovely pub with some fantastic features, but the customers were all drinking lager and Guinness, as far as I could see. My half of Lancaster Mosaic was in good condition but with a hint that the pipes are not cleaned as often as necessary. Drinkable, but with pleasure slightly alloyed with regret.