The Red Lion, Liverpool

I first visited the Red Lion on a Saturday lunchtime in January and it is a different sort of pub on a late evening in February. The clientele was generally young, much more so than usually found in real ale pubs. While others suggest the beer selection isn't adventurous both of my visits have found a good quality stout on the bar, and on this occasion I very much enjoyed the Carnival Brewing Macau, a 5% oat cream pistachio & coffee pale ale.

Official site of The Red Lion - www.redlionpubliverpool.com

Official site of The Red Lion - www.redlionpubliverpool.com

I've been aware of this pub's opening for a while but have noticed that the real ales on offer have been on the fairly safe side. So, I've been putting off a visit until being in the immediate area. Visiting on a Saturday afternoon, the pub was fairly busy with football fans watching Liverpool play at Bournemouth. I suspected that all present were Liverpool fans until Bournemouth scored, making one guy particularly happy, despite the scowls from elsewhere. However, despite the football being on, TVs are still fairly discrete and didn't really affect the overall atmosphere. I quite enjoyed the layout and features in this pub. For a new place, it has been done out very nicely with lots of attention to detail. You wouldn't guess it hadn't been a pub for long. The 5 real ales were slightly more adventurous than I had anticipated - White Rat is the regular beer. Guests were Lemon Dream, Boltmaker, Jarl & London Pride. Still, that was nothing that I hadn't had before. The furnishings and decor give it an almost wine bar feel, which seems to appeal to either sex, unlike many other city centre pubs which seem to be favoured by blokes. So, it was good to see a good mix of people, also both young and old. I quite liked the pub overall and will almost certainly return. Maybe just 1 or 2 more adventurous real ales, a dark beer or even a cider would make me a much more regular visitor. But until then, it will only be an occasional visit from me. Nevertheless, it's great to see new pubs opening in Liverpool and I wish this one every success.

I am surprised to find out that this pub was a former house, converted into a pub. These days it's usually the other way around. A lot of effort has been put into this place to give the pub a traditional interior, I especially liked the William Morris wallpaper and the bar area. The barman on our visit looked like a throw back from the 70's, even had an open top shirt, hairy chest and medallion! Five handpumps all in use with quite a pedestrian choice, so I went for the London Pride, which was in great shape.