The Three Mariners, Lancaster

Reputedly the oldest pub in Lancaster, it sort of looks the part with flagstones, beams and stuff and there are tales of ghosts and hidden passages. It's tucked away under the castle hill set back from the road. There are two rooms in similar oldish but modernised style and a dining room at one end. Six hand pumps but I only remember the lovely Titanic Cappuccino

We visited the Pub in June '14. We were on holiday from Canada and I was showing my wife my old haunts in Lancaster. She had never been to the City. The pub was basically as I remembered it and retains its old world looks. The real ale was good after many years of lager type beers. We did, however, have one peculiar incident. We were sat near the open end of the bar and my wife wanted a snack. I pointed out the rack of crisps at the end of the bar and mentioned that they even had Doritos. She said that she didn't want American crap so I pointed out the English crisps to her. At that moment, a packet [her favourite kind] stretched from one corner to another, came out of the rack, and seemed to be flung to the ground. It definitely did not fall normally. My wife looked at me and said, "did you see what happened". My wife decided she wasn't hungry. It was only later we found out that the pub is supposed to be haunted!!!

A fine looking pub from the road with coloured lamps in each window. The interior was interesting with the exposed low beams and a good choice of beers. The downside for us was the awful repetitive piped music, from a band I couldn't name, which was whining and would send anyone mad. Next was the chap behind the bar dressed in his kitchen attire, who wiped his nose along his forearm. We tried the Hawkshead Pale, then legged it.

Old stone building set back from the road and close to the river. Split into two areas, all modern and comfortable and there is the odd beam here and there still. Has the feel of a family middle of the road kind of place but the 5 real ales are kept well.

Official site of The Three Mariners - www.thethreemarinerslancaster.co.uk

Official site of The Three Mariners - www.thethreemarinerslancaster.co.uk

When I lived in Lancaster this was called the Carpenters Arms and it stood next to a very ugly granary, now replaced by some smart modern apartments. In those days the outside of the building was nothing special - after all, who was looking when that monstrous grain warehouse was standing right by? Inside was a fine old pub, and I mean genuinely old, and verging on tatty. But full of character. Some things have changed, and from the outside it's now a pretty stone building in a grove of trees, but inside there's no sense of history at all. It all seems to be standard pub fittings and the Three Mariners could be any old pub in any old town. It's still worth a visit, of course - don't let me put you off - just not what it used to be (the price of getting old). Six hand pumps on the bar were serving five northern beers, two from local breweries (Cross Bay Nightfall and Bowland Hen Harrier) plus three from what I used to think of as the wrong side of the Pennines (Rudgate Ruby Mild, Black Sheep Bitter and York Guzzler).