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Ye Cracke, Liverpool
Liverpool
L1 9BB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Ye Cracke
This is a really difficult pub to review. It's location along a short narrow passageway looks unpromising and the old Bass sign outside indicates a throwback to past glories.
Up a few steep steps into the pub, you arrive into a small bar area which I've always found to be either completely empty or packed. It has a number of handpulls, but they rarely seem to be clipped.
Beyond this is a lovely small snug, which is also empty most of the time. Heading left towards the main bar, there is a small seating area which can also be unused due to the stench coming from the toilets. As such, most people seem to head to the far left-hand end of the pub, where a larger more open-plan room is popular.
3 real ales were on in the main bar for our midweek visit. These were Empire Hoppy Christmas To You & Pandemonium Porter & Spitting Feathers Winter Solstice. We ordered the Porter and I think I ended up with the last of the cask. However, the beer itself was still really enjoyable. By the time we left, this had been replaced with Beartown Smore, another dark beer. However, they seem to have stopped stocking a real cider since my last visit.
On the face of it, this is a great pub, a little off the beaten track. However, I've also experienced some of my most frustrating pubgoing experiences in this place. I've never forgiven the landlady for one visit when I waited 10-15 minutes to get served in what was a busy pub, but one where locals were clearly getting served ahead of me and after waiting only a few minutes. Eventually I threw the toys out of the pram and enquired as to whether I was invisible. I was invited to leave the pub if I didn't like it! For a while, I vowed never to go back. But over the years I've weakened and returned to what was once my favourite Liverpool pub.
Another frustration is the incorrect opening times on their Facebook page, on Google and also on WhatPub. They all state that they stay open until 11:30 during the week. I have walked in before this and tried to get served numerous times even just a few minutes past 11, only to be told they were closed. Strange that, when a large group of locals is stood around the front bar with full pints!
Visiting here can be an enjoyable experience at times. But the pub is best avoided when busy or anytime late at night. During both periods, non-locals are not welcome and will invariably be treated with disdain. I still really want to like this pub, but you never quite know what treatment you will get when you step through the door.
On 21st December 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about Ye Cracke
still an unchanged, slightly tatty backstreet pub with a lot of character though limited comfort. Last time I was in here there was hardly any real ale available but this time round it was better, though there are far superior beer pubs in the city. Friendly and multiple rooms make it very characterful. Popular with student types.
On 23rd December 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1058 recommendations about 1023 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Ye Cracke
My sixth heritage pub of the day, after a bit of a scare when it wasn't open at opening time. Returning half an hour later I found the landlady and three other customers, one of them at least clearly a regular. I suppose a pub whose name is The Cracke has got to have good "craic", and so it proved. The beer was in very good condition, though in my case it was only Marstons Saddle Tank, or Burton Bitter as it used to be called. Others were Beartown Creme Bearlee, Phoenix Arizona and a seasonal for the RU world cup. Reading my notes after two months I was initially puzzled as to what PdR could mean - and then I remembered: pièce de résistance. It's the panelled snug in the middle of the pub, cryptically labelled "War Office" (see photos), a tiny room with a mirror along one wall to make it seem larger and lighter than it really is. Anyone who's not been to the Cracke before should definitely come and see the War Office.
Date of visit: 4th October 2019
On 20th December 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3740 recommendations about 3477 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rob Hunter left this review about Ye Cracke
A very traditional looking back street boozer which was surprisingly busy for its location. It looked a bit daunting from the outside, the kind of place that may be a locals' pub and everyone falls into silence and stares at you when you walk in, but I'm pleased to report that was far from the case. On entering there is a small room to the left, backing on to the rear of the bar, which was empty, then you walk through and round to the front of the bar where there are a couple of different semi opened out rooms. There is also an outdoor area though not investigated and was in the process of being locked up - perhaps they are only allowed to use it until a certain time because it's a fairly residential area.
Four hand pulls at the bar including two from Big Bog at the time of my visit.
It's a proper old school boozer but without feeling exclusively locally. Well worth a visit.
On 11th April 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 750 recommendations about 598 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about Ye Cracke
definitely worth a visit to an unchanged back street boozer.
Interesting Cottage Brewing Co Air Supremacy on - all the way from Somerset.
Listen to the constant sounds of the Beatles on the Jukebox.
Photos at my blog - http://bit.ly/2csv7Qs
On 5th September 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 277 recommendations about 276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Al Bundy left this review about Ye Cracke
John Lennon's old watering hole and I'm not sure what it was like in his time but this pub hasn't changed for years. A nice feature is the 'Guest Ales' blackboard at the side of the bar which very rarely is in unison with what is actually on.
On 8th November 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Ye Cracke
This is another Liverpool pub on CAMRA's Regional Inventory of pubs with historic interiors. Although this pub has been much changed, and expanded, over the years it does retain some original features. You enter into a very small room that was the original public bar. Around to the back of the servery is a much larger room, which is where I found the landlady and the pub's only other customer. Leading off the corridor that to some extent dissects this room is a very small snug, known as the War Room, and which certainly dates from the Victorian era. As you would expect, there's some Beatles stuff around the place, but I guess you could say that about most Liverpool pubs.
There were four ales on. For some reason I didn't note them all, but I did note that I had a decent drop of Salopian Blond. I did have a conversation with the landlady on the merits, or otherwise, of the use of sparklers and she said that whenever she's in a London pub she asks for a sparkler to be used. Best of luck with that; or do London pubs keep a sparkler handy just in case someone from somewhere up north drops in? I'd be surprised if many London bar staff would know what you were talking about.
Anyway, this seems to be even more of a locals' boozer than the other Liverpool pubs I had visited. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.
On 19th September 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Ye Cracke
Not immediately obvious or enticing, set-off down a small (and quite dark at night) side street. However persevere as inside it’s a characterful, multi-roomed, old school boozer. Plays on its Lennon connection (the Dissenters mirror in the far room is very nice). Also in this room is a modernist wall mural depicting a Georgian battle of some sort. Impressive jukebox with plenty of old school Indie and 60’s classics that was being pumped with cash. Décor is sparse and a bit knocked-about in places, though as a popular student haunt (nearby Art School) perhaps that’s to be expected. A decent ale selection - five in all - and my Preston Oyster Stout was fine. Also Old Rosie cider (at least). A nice buzzing atmosphere in here and it was voted Mrs Quinno’s favourite of the entire Liverpool trip.
On 15th January 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5081 recommendations about 5064 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Ye Cracke
Located down an unlikely backstreet off Hope Street, this is an impressive and attractive multi-roomed pub. The exterior boasts some nice old tiling with signs for Bass and Boddingtons giving it a retro feel. Entering through the front door you find yourself in a very small and basic snug with a short stretch of bar and a TV in the corner showing football, which makes entering a bit awkward if the place is busy. Better then to arrive through the side door which takes you into a drinking corridor with access to several other rooms and a small serving hatch on the left hand side. The first room to the right is a fairly basic affair with pew seating and walls decorated with some dubious Beatles artwork from a local artist on the walls. A decent sized walled garden can be seen from here, although it was closed on my visit. The next room along the corridor is called the War Office, as this is supposedly where the locals would congregate to discuss the Boer War back in the day. It’s a smart little space, made to feel bigger by the large mirrors on the walls.
The corridor eventually opens out into the main bar where there is a limited amount of seating in the space opposite the servery. There are some nice stained glass panels here as well as a framed ‘Don’t buy The Sun’ t-shirt from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign. At the far end of the pub is the biggest room, which has comfortable banquette seating lined along opposite sides and some interesting pieces of art on the walls. A TV screen was showing the afternoon’s Liverpool game to a mixed crowd and the atmosphere was a lot more civil than in some of the other pub’s I’d been in during the match. A large circular mirror has text and pictures on it relating to John Lennon’s first band, The Dissenters, who used to drink in the pub. This tribute was presented to the pub by the two surviving members of the band, Bill Harry and Rod Murray. Other items of note include a large decorative ‘Welcome to Ye Cracke’ sign and the obligatory pump clip display, this time along a high shelf running around the room. The whole pub is of the dark wood floors and panels variety and has a very welcoming feel to it which made me want to return again a few days later.
The ale choice was from Slater’s Bitter, Liverpool Craft Evensong, Phoenix Hopsack and Mordue Five Bridges, with the last three all replaced on my return visit when I tried Phoenix Porter. The beer was in good shape and the staff were a friendly bunch, with one barman joining in our discussion about the must-visit pubs of Liverpool.
I really liked the feel of this place and was glad they didn’t overplay their Lennon connection too much – something that some of the Matthew Street bars could learn from. An enjoyable couple of visits and a pub I’d be keen to return to.
On 19th March 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
david hammill left this review about Ye Cracke
cracking little pub this good beer good banter with frendly locals took some finding though i had 2 pints of iron man very nice will come again cheers
On 23rd October 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 96 recommendations about 86 pubs]