The Wolves, Warrington

The Wire has been renamed The Wolves after a revamp that has gone down a subtle Steampunk theme, including on the new exterior signs. The entrance leads to a lobby with tiled floor that is served by the bar counter to the right. To the left are two rooms with parquet flooring and some banquettes that accompanying some standard furniture. In the first, nearest the door, were some speakers which suggests DJ / live music and in the second are two dartboards. Around to the right of the bar is a small room that is also served by the bar and then further around to the right is a room with a pool tables and projector screen. This leads to the an L-shaped part of the bar in the right front corner of the pub. Here a beer shelf runs under the front windows and bar stools line up under the bar. What I thought was the exit revealed itself to be a hidden dartboard on the back of the right hand entrance to the pub, hopefully it is not still used as a door! In the central lobby there is a jukebox and televisions are located throughout for showing live sports, obviously Rugby League trumps football! The bar supports a standard keg range and the five hand pumps across the bars were unused. I found the service to be friendly, and all the locals looked like they were at home in this well lived in pub. I imagine things get a bit lively on match day and at the weekend. I get it, but not being local or a follower of Rugby League I think I’ll walk past if I find myself in the area again.

A large, multi-roomed standalone Victorian pub. There are at least 4 rooms that I saw with a servery I two of them. 3 unused handpumps on each bar. Warrington rugby memorabilia dotted around. It has an attractive and traditional interior. No real ale.

Although not the closest in proximity to Warrington Wolves' ground, the name of the pub gives you an indication of the main focus here, and signs such as "Warrington Wolves Matchday Madness All Home Games" reinforce this. Internally, it's high-ceilinged and multi-roomed with a small bar centred around the entrance serving two main areas with smaller 'breakout' rooms on the left-hand side, with part-bookshelf wallpaper, upholstered banquettes and badly grammared, tired old alcoholic quotes e.g. "When I read about the evil's of drinking. I give up drinking." (and this has been spelt as read) Obviously a lot hotter on matchdays than on an October Monday evening, in terms of how drinking establishments can combine sport and alcohol, Leyton Orient Supporters' Club this ain't

very much a rugby league pub!