Vernon Arms, Liverpool

Lovely pub deserving its place in the 2011 Good Beer Guide. 6 real ales available, and we enjoyed All Gates Caskablanca and Rudgate Spring Elixir. Two rooms both with TV, and there was a screen too. Very reasonable food menu too.

Classic Liverpool pub of the plainer Victorian variety thankfully reopened after a long period in limbo and gently refurbished. Two rooms, a large front bar that may have had a small snug at the front at one time and a small lounge without a counter but looking bigger due to all the wall mirrors. Between the two is an unused encrusta tiled entrance and the toilets. The main bar has a sloping floor, not quite as steep as I remember and certainly not like the Globe, a classy ceiling and a classically styled barback. There is a big pulldown screen for the sport which can attract a big crowd on match nights. The etched windows appear to date from a 1980s existence under the Liverpool Brewing Co but I have no further information on this. Six pumps arranged along the counter selling a changing range of well kept beers from micros and smaller regionals, usually Reverend James, something from Betwixtt, and another from the wonderful Wapping. Euros from Hoegaarden, and Fruli with Becks, Worthington Smooth, Stella, Carling, Guinness and Strongbow providing something for everyone. A broad spectrum of customer ages and types, tourists, locals, workers and layabouts.