The White Hart, Liverpool

I used to like this place under its previous guises as the Clove Hitch and the Keystone, with the 23 Club downstairs, but if anything, the new owners have done an excellent job of refurbishing the building and there is now a much bigger drinking space. Whilst the downstairs space no longer appears to be used, the main ground floor room is still used and there is an extra space adjacent to the rear courtyard for further tables. This space then connects the White Hart to the Engineer at the rear. Whilst the two pubs are joined, the Engineer does have its own entrance from Arrad Street. The Engineer itself is much smaller, but with a ground floor room just to the right of the bar and steps leading up to a balcony above the bar with access to 3 cosy rooms that appeared to be popular with the local student population on our late Monday evening visit. Back in the White Hart itself, there is a further bar on the first floor. Whilst the White Hart and the Engineer have different ale selections, the first floor bar in the White Hart is just a reduced selection from the ground floor. A friendly, young barman told me that the two rooms up here had previously been offices. As with the whole building, they were both tastefully decorated and make you think that they have been just like this for years. The cask ale selection does not disappoint. The White Hart has Ossett White Rat as a regular with Ossett Silver King, St Austell Proper Job, Black Lodge Shake Hand, Make Friend, Abbeydale Deception & Timothy Taylor Boltmaker being the guests. In the Engineer section, Timothy Taylor Landlord appears to be the regular beer. Guests there were Carnival Carmen, Chapter Blindfold Off & Titanic Chocolate & Vanilla Stout. Along with the Vines, the Red Lion and the Queen of Hope Street, this group of pubs are fast becoming firm favourites in Liverpool city centre and we're always happy to find pubs that stay open a little later than normal (they are all open until 00:30, with the Vines open until 1am. However, we did notice that they rang last orders at around 23:45, which wasn't quite as advertised. Luckily this didn't prove to be a problem, as we just headed further along the street to the Queen of Hope Street which was definitely staying open until 00:30.

now taken over by the group behind the Vines, Red Lion and Queen of Hope Street. It has been given a very comprehensive impressive refurbishment making it feel like a classic Victorian pub. All dimly lit with candles, dark wood, antique decor & furnishings, a very warm fireplace. The layout has totally changed downstairs with a new bar made from the back of a church pew. No expense spared here. The upstairs has an extra bar with a couple of rooms done in the same style. Good music playing at a fair volume and beer wise it’s not bad either, 6 real ales of which 2 were local (Carnival and Chapter). A really relaxing and pleasant place, more of this please.

Facebook page of The White Hart - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The White Hart - www.facebook.com