Porter's, Warrington

Porters is primarily a live music venue with rock nights throughout the week. I visited on a midweek evening last week when there was nothing much going on so there were only four customers, and a very enthusiastic ‘assistant manager’ who pounced on me as I walked through the door. The L-shaped bar on the left wall supports a standard and premium keg range, most of which were off so I ended up with half a Stella. To the left of the entrance in front of the bar is a dartboard and to the right is a pool table. Steps at the end of the bar lead to a raised seating area and the dance floor. I’m sure the rockers and students of Warrington love this place, and good luck to them, but I’ll not be returning.

This is Warrington’s rock pub, notable on approach for the loud music seeping out on a Saturday evening. You enter to a cramped area with walls surprisingly painted in bright shades and some limited seating options set-up either side of the entrance, one of which was given over to a private party when I arrived, with lots of tasty looking platters of food being ignored by the revellers but hungrily eyed by me. On the other side, customers were packed like sardines into this cramped space where I noted a dartboard and reasonably impressive trophy collection on a set of shelves. The bar appears mid-way along, down the left-hand side and has a dark wood counter which starkly contrasts against the white painted wood that surrounds it through the rest of the pub. Steps lead up to a bare boarded rear area with a small stage to the right and a drinking ledge to the left with a few high stools in support. A band was playing some extremely loud, kick-ass punk songs when I arrived, but they’d paused for a break by the time I ordered my pint, so I didn’t really get to catch them properly. The walls and ceiling back here were covered with some cool graffiti and some quotes had been written across the stage backdrop. A corridor from here leads out to a rear garden, which I didn’t get a chance to explore, partly because the pub was so packed, the prospect of pushing through wasn’t exactly appealing. There are four handpulls on the bar, but even on a packed Saturday evening, they’d not managed to get any operational, so I found myself nursing a pint of Guinness Extra Cold instead, which was a joyless pint. The barman was dealing well with the large crowds at the bar, which seemed to tick over reasonably quickly given the scrum. I normally enjoy this kind of pub, but found the crowded conditions, lack of decent beer and loss of space to a private party all conspired to make this an awkward visit. I think this is definitely worth a look if you fancy catching some live music and don’t mind the prospect of mainstream keg beer, but I can’t say its worth going out of your way for otherwise.

A sort of rock music biker kinda place which is pretty decent if you can bear the rather unhygienic feel about it. Pictures of 'rock legends' dotted around. No Sonic Youth or Half Man Half Biscuit picture which would've been nice. Some interesting cask ales on on my visit including an 8% stout. Hic!

A long narrow room with the bar along one side, wooden floors, a side area is raised slightly. Rock jukebox, biking stuff on the walls and model motorbikes on a shelf, the front corner has a dartboard while the rear section is dominated by a busy pool table. Beyond is a walled yard with designer graffiti and cover for the smokers. A rather unsettling morbid looking statue oversees the pool table, with another smaller one in the middle of the bar counter. There are glass cases of Jack Daniels glasses and other bits and bobs, rock music posters all over, live music is clearly a regular feature. The beer range is ok, I felt I entered when there should be more on as three pumps were unclipped, Dunham Massey Punishing Porter, Robinson's Trooper, Hobgoblin...essential in here...Copper Beech cider plus another cider I couldn't see properly. There are no frills or pretences here, it is a down to earth rock oriented beer drinkers pub, not one to take a maiden aunt or your mum to and I doubt they do food except crisps and the like, I quite liked it but even in a place like this a bit of cleaning and wiping of sticky tables doesn't detract from the image they're trying present and as for the toilets.....just practise holding your breath. Sort that out and it would be on a "do list".

There were eight hand pumps at the time of my recent visit, but unfortunately due to time pressure (train to catch) I didn't note what was available. I had Allgates Challenger, and I seem to recall that there were others from this brewery on too. Not so far from the station as the Tavern on Church Street, though the latter just gets the edge for me.