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Detail Pages
The Taps, Lytham Town Centre, Lytham St. Annes
Lytham St. Annes
FY8 5LE
Pub Type
Greene KingReviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Taps
We really enjoyed our visit to this proper drinker's pub, with no sign of any food service in sight. The pub had a good atmosphere and the beer quality was excellent. 12 handpumps on this visit, serving 10 ales and 2 ciders. We went for the Fixed Wheel Wheelie Pale and sat near the wood burning stove briefly before running for the train.
On 1st March 2020
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Taps
Proper beer drinkers pub, good space, wood boards, good beer, quality
On 20th October 2019
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Peter Rydings left this review about The Taps
Not very happy with the service not like it was when last called in asked if they take camera card young lad said why asked which had been pulled the most said the larger clever cocky attitude had a quick pint and went. Hope it was just a one off in this good pub
On 14th June 2014
- rating: 3
[User has posted 948 recommendations about 917 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Taps
Tucked away down a quiet side street between the market and seafront, the Taps is a classic, traditional alehouse set in a couple of former ostler's cottages. The pub was previously known as the Captain's Cabin, before being taken over by landlord Ian Rigg in 1992. He restored the pub's traditional look by removing all of the plasterboard and exposing the brickwork beneath, organised beach parties when the pub would be carpeted with sand, laid turf throughout the bar whenever the Open Championship came to Royal Lytham St Annes and introduced an ale policy which saw the pub win numerous CAMRA awards, culminating with a final four place in the 2010 National Pub of the Year award.
Having retired in 2012, the pub is thankfully still in very good hands and I was pleased to find an excellent ale selection at the bar. The options on my visit were Moorhouse Pendle Witches Brew, Bank Top Dark Mild, Arbor Motueka, Great Heck Amish Mash, Northumberland Touchdown, Portobello Market Porter, Everards Tiger, 1643 Viscount Golden Ale, house beer Titanic Taps Bitter and one solitary Greene King brew - IPA. One final handpull was set aside for a real cider and the beer range was expanded upon across a keg range that eschewed the usual national brands. I tried the Dark Mild, which was outstanding and the Motueka which was also very good and seemed very popular with the locals. Boards above the bar detail some of the drinks options with some creative arty images to illustrate them, whilst a board to the side of the bar lists all of the ales, complete with tasting notes. The service was excellent and the barman who poured my second pint was a friendly chatty bloke, up for a bit of banter with his customers.
The pub is bare boarded, with a simple, single room interior and the servery running along the back wall. the front doors have stained glass with the pub's logo in them, which is a nice touch. The dark wood servery is notable for the vast collection of pump clips that are suspended from above and the beer credentials are added to by a large stack of CAMRA magazines from around the country which are piled up on a shelf to the right of the bar. There is an open space directly opposite the servery, broken up by a couple of brick pillars surrounded by drinking shelves (one of which has an old punch-card clock on it) and high stools. The majority of the seating options are arranged around the perimeter of the room, mostly comprising standard tables and chairs and the odd pew. The right hand side of the room displays a lot of rugby memorabilia - a nod to the former landlord's passion for the game and the fact that ex-England and Fylde RFC star Bill Beaumont is a frequent customer. Elsewhere there are nice bits of breweriana on display, book shelves, lifeboat memorabilia, a dartboard and a jug collection. There is apparently a small yard to the rear of the pub, amusingly known as the 'Yard of Ale', although I didn't get a chance to see it.
I really loved this pub and thought it was the sort of place you could happily lose several hours in - had I not needed to catch a bus back to Blackpool, I would've probably stayed until closing time. This is easily the best pub in Lytham, from the warm, welcoming atmosphere to the great beer, it wins hands down, and it makes a good case for being regarded the best pub on the Fylde peninsula.
On 31st March 2014
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about The Taps
In the wealthy seaside resort of Lytham, in a side street inland from the green and the much photographed windmill, is The Taps, arguably one of the best known pubs in the Fylde region of Lancashire.
It’s a rather uninspiring looking red brick building which, according to my Lancashire’s Historic Pubs book, was previously several cottages which housed ostlers employed at the nearby Clifton Arms Hotel, a former coaching inn.
As we enter The Taps, we see, high up on the whitewashed, plastered wall immediately in front us, the inscription “ Welcome to The Taps – The Theatre of Ales”.
The interior consists of one largish, bare boarded, rectangular, open plan single room with traditional wooden tables and chairs around the perimeter. Several brick pillars break up the interior and, with ledges for drinks and high bar stools for perching, provide much needed additional seating.
There’s much exposed brickwork and something of a rather blokeish, ale house atmosphere. One particular area of the pub, by the fireplace, has a collection of rugby memorabilia, including framed programmes, a Fylde R F C rugby shirt and a framed painting of Billy Beaumont, the former England captain, who is apparently a regular here. At the opposite end of the pub, a corner is devoted to the RNLI, with a number of framed photos and prints relating to the local lifeboat station and the various crews over the years.
In summary, it’s a rather unremarkable, no nonsense, functional interior, but the RNLI and rugby memorabilia provide some interest and focus for the passing visitor. It’s a music free zone, but there are several small TV’s dotted about ( for rugby only ?) and a dartboard.
The Taps is a Greene King owned pub, but branding is discreet and it is clear that, to all intents and purposes, the pub is effectively run as a free house.
There’s a strong commitment to real ale and blackboards above the bar servery detail what’s currently on which, on my recent November visit, included Bank Top Flat Cap, Robinsons Dizzy Blonde, Welbeck Abbey Red Feather, Pendle Witches Brew and Butcombe Haka. Titanic Taps Bitter is brewed specially for the pub by Titanic Brewery in Stoke. Greene King were represented by the ubiquitous IPA, plus XX Mild. Also on was a brew called Trial Brew No 1, which, if my memory serves me correctly, was also a Greene King beer, in this case a Porter. There’s 11 pumps in total, including one for cider. At the time of my visit, a blackboard by the bar told us that 851 beers in total had been sold in 2013 to date.
The pub is a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular, has won numerous local branch awards and has twice reached the last 4 of the CAMRA National POTY competition.
Well worth seeking out when in the region
On 5th January 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Sam Millar left this review about The Taps
Visited again (June 2012) after a couple of years. My review below still stands. Great pub, Great Beer !!!
On 11th July 2012
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 24 recommendations about 21 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Sam Millar left this review about The Taps
Excellent "Real ale" pub. Winner of many awards. Landlord Ian Rigg keeps the six regularly changing guest beers all in perfect condition. Can get a bit crowded at times but well worth a visit.
On 26th February 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 24 recommendations about 21 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Les Sands left this review about The Taps
A must visit for real ale buffs, and very well run. Can get very busy at night
On 19th July 2007
- rating: 8
[User has posted 6 recommendations about 6 pubs]