Bear & Bottle, Warrington

This is a large pub on one of the main roads skirting around the town centre, that’s been given a modern refit which seems to have robbed the place of its identity. The left half of the building was operating as a pub on my Saturday evening visit, with tile flooring and plain coloured walls and ceiling through a large open-plan space. The bar is over to the right and has a plain wooden counter and rustic looking bar back, with a large space opposite partially filled with a mix of high tables and stools and some standard tables and chairs. The room opens out beyond this, as you take a single step up to the left-hand side of the room which has been left pretty much empty and acts as a dancefloor of sorts, with the seating dotted sparingly around the room under dark painted walls and some interesting brewery paintings. This side of the room was being used for karaoke when I visited, with TV screens showing live footage of the ‘performers’, just in case you’re desperate to view the action whilst facing the other way. More seating can be found in a space to the rear of the bar and there was loads more through into the right-hand half of the building, in what looked to be a deserted dining room – whether this ever gets opened up, I could not say. As in the previous pub I’d visited, there were four handpulls here, none of which were operational, so I once again found myself with a Guinness Extra Cold, which was the best of a very bad bunch of global keg brands. There was a very strange vibe in here and at one point I found myself the only person at the bar not wearing fancy dress, so I downed my drink, cursed my poor judgement in coming here, and headed off as quick as I could. I’ve no idea who this pub is aimed at – on approach, it looks like it’s going to be a modern dining pub, and a glance through the window to the dining room reinforces this idea, but once inside, it was a soulless, tacky party venue with no decent beer and no real redeeming features. A blot on my crawl around Warrington – stick to the nearby Tavern or Bull’s Head instead.

Since the last review this pub has become the Bear & Bottle. It never looked particularly inspiring in its former guise as the Adelphi Vaults, though I never ventured in so cannot comment what it was actually like. I have had my eye on it since it has changed and was pleased to manage a midweek afternoon visit. Six hand pumps at the bar, of which four were clipped. On offer - Killswitch by Mordue, Clear Cut by Greeves and Harvest Pale by Castle Rock. The other was one I had not seen before but cannot recall what it was called. Was fairly quiet at the time of my visit but a couple of other people in. Service was friendly. Cask ales around the £3 a pint mark, so no issues on price. Looks like a nice refurb job has been carried out, though the entrance door looks a bit shabby and I think would look better changed for something a bit more contemporary to fit in a bit better. I would happily go back.