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Detail Pages
Crown Hotel, Liverpool
Liverpool
L1 1JQ
Pub Type
Oak Tree (Mitchells & Butlers)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Crown Hotel
A splendidly ornate gin palace right next to Lime Street station, the exterior Walkers of Warrington signage is certainly eye-catching, once inside, there is an L-shaped carpeted ground floor bar area leading through to a separate and attractive room at the rear, named The Bar Room. Ornate ceiling and upper wall friezes, two thirds height wood panelling, blue glazed brick fireplace, stairs curve up to a dining room but with pub seating too, there is a very attractive domed rooflight up here lighting the stair landing. The pub is Grade II Listed and on CAMRA's National Inventory.
So that's the good bits, sadly the service left a bit to be desired, a number of pumps were clipped with the dreaded "coming soon" or a variant thereof, so I plumped for one not clipped in this manner, Tribute. "That's not on" I got, "it is clipped" I said, "none of those are on" was the answer. On establishing what actually was on I settled on Brain's Rev James, the same barmaid then stopped pouring my pint half way through to go and answer the phone. Quite special. The beer, once I got one, was fine. Of three banks of about 15 pumps in all, about half were out of use leaving my Rev James, Rudgate Ruby Mild, GK IPA and Black Sheep Bitter shared across the others.
Also, totally at odds with the grandiose interior, there were stacks of tacky and oversized posters advertising cheap meal and drinks deals, this is a very attractive pub with a great preserved interior so why go and "JDW" it? I suppose pubs close to stations do not tend to be great with a non-regular transient trade and many passing through very quickly but I felt that the surroundings were seriously at odds with the pub experience. I did however see a certificate for the CAMRA of Pub Renaissance of the year, 2014, so maybe substantial improvements have taken place compared to a possibly dismal past, who knows?
I liked the building overall and I'm glad I visited but someone needs to sort the place out a bit in my opinion based admittedly on this one visit.
On 2nd November 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Crown Hotel
Listed in Camra's National Inventory Of Heritage Interiors. To really appreciate the splender of this interior, I recommend an early doors visit. My favourite part of the pub is the quieter lounge to the rear and the glass dome at the top of the flight of stairs leading to the first floor dining area. Four ales on our visit, I went for The Moorhouses Black Cat.
On 18th June 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Peter Rydings left this review about Crown Hotel
Another one i call in always a good selection of hand pulled beer always busy and buzzing full of proper liverpudlians.
Not a lot more i can say it already been said
On 15th December 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 948 recommendations about 917 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Crown Hotel
The Crown Hotel is a large, two storey pub outside the main entrance to Lime Street station. It’s certainly a striking building, with its large gold lettering catching, if not exactly pleasing, the eye. You enter into a large, carpeted front room with the bar along the rear wall and ample seating filling what is a fairly open space. There is nice wood panelling, etched windows and a tiled fireplace but the star attraction is the fantastic ceiling which, in keeping with the signage outside, has recently been augmented with some flecks of gold leaf. The bar back is also worth a look, with an intricate design and some nice stained glass inserts. Passing to the right of the servery you can enter a smaller room at the rear of the pub which has an even nicer ceiling, some smart leather banquette seating and a small tiled fireplace. My arrival came an hour or so after the end of a Liverpool home game, so the place was packed with football fans enjoying a pint before their train home. Unable to find a seat I decided to venture up the winding staircase, passing under an impressive cupola on the way, where another large, open-plan seating area can be found in what used to be the billiards room. There is plenty more seating here and I was able to get a seat looking out over the station approach.
I’d expected a fairly mainstream ale selection, but I was pleased to find a relatively interesting line-up of Greene King Suffolk Springer, Marston’s EPA, Wooden Hand Pirate’s Gold and Hop Back Taiphoon. My Pirate’s Gold was in good shape and served to me by a charming barmaid.
The pub’s location made me a little wary about what I might find inside, but there was a good mix of customers and the staff seemed like a really friendly bunch. I wouldn’t put this high on the list of pubs to return to, but it’s great for a pre-train pint and well worth a look just for the fine interior.
On 12th April 2012
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about Crown Hotel
Called in this one as someone suggested to include on my crawl of the city. The interior is impressive and looking up the grand staircase, there is a large glass dome. Beer range disappointing given there were only about 4 ales despite the many forlorn handpulls, and as it was busy I would have thought they would have had the turnover. We chose Shepherd Neame Spitfire as it was the 75th anniversary of its being built, and was amazed as it was only £2 a pint.
On 6th March 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about Crown Hotel
Extraordinary looking “art nouveau gone mad” pub next to Lime Street Station. The inside is a little more restrained but the ceilings alone are worth a visit. There is a large main front bar, a wood panelled lounge with an amazing ceiling at the rear and a function room upstairs. There are many handpumps in situ serving mainstream beers like Tetleys Cask, Deuchars, John Smiths and occasionally slightly rarer beers like Youngs Special, all at competitive prices. Availability of the cask beers is however variable, sometimes there will none on but the quality is generally good. The staff too can vary in quality and knowledge. Sadly the low prices do attract more than a fair share of crazies, scallies and weirdies but there never seem to be any resulting problems.
On 17th December 2009
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3269 recommendations about 2978 pubs]