Pubs Galore - the UK pub guide

Called in for the first time since I wrote the notes below. It's not the first place I've been in lately where M&B seem to have cottoned on that "family dining" isn't the thing is was, as the likes of Oliver, J have discovered to their cost: they have rowed back on the every-table-laid-for-eating regime, and the front of the pub is now far more welcoming and pubby. We had a drink of Mad Goose and it remains a nice drink.

It's now worth a visit after you've finished looking round the castle, but, this being M&B, you'll need deep pockets.


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July 2013 notes

A once historic and characterful old pub now refurbished into another sterile unbranded M&B "Bar and Dining Rooms". It is of course immensely popular with those who enjoy their mass-produced microwaved meals and the garden makes a very pleasant place to do that on a summer's evening. However its usefulness as a pub is marginal.

This is a very nice, compact traditional pub on the very edge of Warrington town centre. The pub has a shallow, but very wide layout for the most part, extending rearwards only down the very far left-hand end. You enter directly into the main bar area with the servery directly opposite you, along the back wall. The room is bare boarded with whitewashed walls, dark wood beams and some red lincrusta wall coverings below a low dado rail. The bar has a nice counter with some impressive carved wooden pillars supporting a leaded glass pot shelf. The bare brick and mirror bar back meanwhile, has been decorated with a string of fairy lights, which works surprisingly well. To the right of the entrance there is a cosy seating area with banquette and chair options around the perimeter and a large screen on the end wall showing a live rugby league match. There’s an L-shaped button backed banquette opposite the bar to the left of the entrance, supported by low stools, with a second screen showing the same match in one of the corners. From here you can pass into what seems to have once been a separate left-hand room, now opened out, with benches and chairs along the front wall, a stone fireplace to the rear with another TV screen above it and a slot machine in the corner. Behind this room, a rear space acts as a games room with a pool table and dartboard plus a final TV screen and a few rugby league themed pictures on the walls. Music was playing quietly in the background, but this was easily lost under the chatter of a packed Saturday evening crowd.
There were four handpulls in action on the bar, dispensing Fullers London Pride and Rocky Red, Adnams Ghost Ship and Hardy and Hanson Scrum Down. I opted for a pint of the Rocky Red, which was in fairly good condition, and supped it on a cramped table in the middle of the pub, trying to follow what was clearly a very important rugby fixture as far as the locals were concerned.
This is quite a pleasant, cosy little pub that almost has a rural feel to it what with all the dark wood beams, cramped confines and cheery locals. The beer was decent enough and the welcome was pretty friendly, so when you consider there is another good pub just next door, it’s a bit of a no brainer to pop in here for a solid double header.

A rather cliched gay bar which hosts occasional live transvestite/music acts. No real ale available, just Fortyniner in bottles, which the barman, who was otherwise reasonable, insisted was real ale. Some of the clientele looked decidedly unfriendly. There was a collection of glitter balls (no, this isn’t an allusion to a discredited 1970s glam rock star) oscillating above the entrance, dark interior and a small outside terrace where people go to smoke. I wouldn’t drag myself back here.

Large modern restaurant and bar in a small chain. The big and bright rectangular space has an open kitchen behind rows of tables. To one side is the bar area, which has stools, easy chairs and work areas. Seems to mainly focus on wines and cocktails but a small clump of keg fonts offer a house lager, Curious IPA and some Eurofizz.

Situated on the second floor above All Bar One. Once up the narrow steps you'll find a smartly done cocktail bar. Limited draughts available so I settled for a Heineken. Quiet when I called (it was 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning!). If you like cocktails, you'll like it here, if not plenty other choices nearby.