The Turks Head, St. Helens

An extravagant building in mock tudor style, and inside an extravagance of beers: 14 on hand pumps (I didn't check the keg offerings), from a multitude of breweries, with only Ossett and Thornbridge doubly represented (unless counting Bombardier as Marstons). Both the beers we had poured frothily, but were not particularly well conditioned, which may be because of a fault with the cask breather (I'm not an expert). My half of Marstons Owd Roger 7.4% was not as good as I've had this beer in bottled form, and that's not something I'll admit to very often. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our visit here as it's a pleasant pub with friendly staff and customers who made us feel right at home.

This is a cracking two-bar traditional pub in the back streets of St Helens, just a short walk from the town centre. The side porch offers a choice of entrances, with the Bar to the left and Lounge to the right, each indicated by attractive stained-glass panes in the respective doors. Following the left-hand door, you descend a couple of steps to a lower level main bar area. This room has long, comfy banquette seating along the front wall with some sturdy looking chairs in support, whilst the servery runs down the rear wall, with its plain counter and nice mirrored bar back decorated with collections of jugs and pump clips. To one side of the bar, there are some lovely stained-glass windows bearing the pub’s name in a style similar to the ‘Bar’ and ‘Lounge’ panes seen in the entrance porch. Large ceramic beer jugs fill the window sills and there is an attractive fireplace to the left with a large TV screen above showing a live rugby union fixture with the commentary turned on. A bookcase to the side of the TV screen was well stocked with numerous titles including a fair few old editions of the Good Beer Guide. Stairs lead up to the carpeted left hand side of the pub where you’ll find a pool table and dartboard, some nice wood panelled walls and a collection of beer trays, but rather limited seating options. The majority of the seating options can be found in the rear lounge bar, although I only took a brief peek round here, so didn’t get a chance to explore it properly. The pub has a keen focus on cask ale, offering a wide range of options including Oakham Bishop’s Farewell, Morland Old Speckled Hen, Hop Back Summer Lightning, Moorhouse Pride of Pendle, Langton Rainbow Bridge, Camerons Sanctuary, Pardoes Sweet Chariot and something called Raven Ale, all available on the front bar, with several more on in the lounge including Courage Directors and Ossett Excelsior. I tried the Bishop’s farewell which was in excellent condition and served to me by a very friendly, welcoming barmaid, who had a chat with all the customers as they slowly accumulated over the course of my visit. I thought this was an excellent pub with a smart, comfortable interior, some excellent beer and fine customer service. There seemed to be a nice vibe here, with the locals happy to chat to newcomers and the comfy seating creating a homely feel that made it difficult to drag yourself away. This place is well worth the walk out of town to check out and was probably the pick of the five pubs I visited in St Helens.