The Head of Steam, Liverpool

As usual it’s difficult to better PSM’s description, I used walk past here when it was Abbey and whatever it was before that. I have a certain regard for Heads of Steam as the Leeds ones aren’t bad, sadly this one isn’t in the same category. 10 pulls with only a Lillies cider, a dreadful Cameron’s Roadcrew (warm, flat and stale) and two other possibly more promising beers, Lenten Lane Caramel Twist and Stout, Fatheads Fatlander, and one from Abbeydale called Daily Bread a no doubt dreary bitter.

Disappointing visit, with disinterested staff who offered no help to choose a drink from their extensive menu. Still, it was easy enough to do a full circuit of the central island bar to look at all options available. Chain pub, with a chainy feel - could have been in any City in the world and Liverpool has so much to offer. Got the GBG 2024 tick. Much better available.

I made my first visit to the Head of Steam in almost 2 years on a recent Saturday. It is just as popular as it was pre-lockdown with its central bar and plenty of seating all around. Cameron's Strongarm is the regular ale. Guests on this Saturday afternoon visit were Green Duck Revolution, Top Rope Vanilla Monsoon, Vocation Heart & Soul & Brew York Maris the Otter. Ciders were Lilley's Tropical Cider & Gwynt y Ddraig Farmhouse Scrumpy. In addition, there are many craft beers on draft. My Vanilla Monsoon and Tropical Cider were both very enjoyable and so was the CAMRA discount you can get here. Live sports are shown on the TV and food is also available. A solid 8/10, one of the best pubs in the city and in reference to the last review, it is so much more reliable than its previous incarnation at Lime Street station.

I never made it to the original Head of Steam in Liverpool, so was glad when this one opened and welcomed the opportunity to include it on a crawl. It reminded me of the Birmingham venue in terms of interior décor. As you come in the real ales are to the back of the right hand side of the bar, with 10 hand pulls, including a cider. There seems to be a rear area which can be sectioned off and has its own bar (not in use at the time of my visit) which I assume is where private functions can be held. A good selection of styles on the real ale front and another good example of an outlet from this chain.

This is a huge pub, much bigger than you would think from the outside. A load of booths just inside the entrance near the bar and loads of other areas to both the side and rear of the bar. It's very nicely decorated and is obviously pretty newly refurbished. The barmaid was very chatty and friendly. It wasn't very busy on a Monday night as you might expect, but there were quite a few people dotted about. The ale selection was almost totally Camerons, so I had a Motorhead Road Crew which was OK and then a Kirkstall Ignore The Ignorant, which I hadn't had before, so overall I was quite happy. Ms CAMRA like the red wine, which is why we stayed for two. We'll happily call in again next time we're here.