Stamps Bar, Liverpool

A very good little pub and by far your best bet for real ale here, and that includes the Pigeon. The pub is on two levels with a central staircase leading up to another drinking area. The staircase dominates the ground floor. The bar has 6 handpulls with beers from Castle Rock, Brentwood, Sadlers, Box Steam, Ossett and their own Stamps beers. Well worth a visit.

Visited yesterday afternoon, was fairly quiet but a couple of other gents were in. I have been once before but on that occasion there were none of their own Stamps Brewery beers on the pumps, so I was hopeful I may find one on my return visit. Six hand pumps, two were off, offering Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Titanic Plum Porter, Stamps Submarina and Marble Table Beer. Naturally I went for the Submarina which was a reasonable £1.55 for a half, and formed part of a decent line up. I'd happily go back. Looks like it is set up for live music, so perhaps it gets a bit lively at the weekend.

This compact bar with a good location in the centre of Crosby is the sister pub of Stamps Too in Waterloo, but has more of a proper pub feel to it. The pub comprises a small square ground floor room and a first floor mezzanine area. You enter into a bare boarded room with the servery tucked away on the rear right corner, hidden in part by a centrally positioned staircase. Most of the room has exposed brick walls decorated with various bits of breweriana, old photos and some large blackboards detailing various bits including a live music roster. There is some bench and comfy chair seating under the front windows, but the staircase means this is an isolated spot, with the remainder of the seating down the left hand wall in the shape of fixed benches with the bare brick wall as the back. Various bits of musical equipment, including a 'Stamps' branded piano, can be seen under the staircase, suggesting that this area acts as a stage of sorts. A couple of TV screens to the right of the room were showing various promotional bits and the ceiling has been draped with all manner of flags and has a large glitter ball in the middle. The staircase sports a sign for the old Blundellsands Hotel, which used to stand opposite Blundellsands and Crosby station, but has since been converted into flats. I didn't explore the upstairs area properly but it seemed like there was a good deal of additional lounge-style seating up there. The pub operates its own Stamps microbrewery and one of their beers - Penny Black - was available along with Copper Dragon Silver Myst, Salopian Shropshire Gold, Black Hole Bitter and Robinsons Dizzy Blonde. I thought it best to try the home brew and thankfully it was a pretty good pint. There was a decent crowd in here on a Wednesday afternoon but I didn't see much ale getting poured except for a small group stood at the bar. This is another decent little pub in the Crosby/Waterloo area, offering a good selection of well conditioned ales in a fairly comfortable and convivial environment. I suspect the place really comes into its own when there is a bit of live music on, but I thought it worked well as somewhere to dip in for a nice relaxed pint or two as well. There is a good crawl to be had in the local area and this place should definitely be on your itinerary.

This used to be the local Post Office a good few years ago. This is more of micro pub than a wine bistro. The downstairs is small and there is some more seating upstairs. I went for the Seamless Redwillow, which was Superb.