Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Random news of the day with Real Ale Ray
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Dispensary, Liverpool
Liverpool
L1 2SP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Dispensary
Back end of town, this is a fine beer pub with plenty of choice of real ale. Its not large, there is the bar area as you walk in and a further raised area on the left. Its comfortable in a local kind of way, with padded benches and chairs. Thw position against the road makes it quite light inside from the windows and there are old pictures on the walls.
The beer quality is superb!
On 28th March 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Dispensary
This is a simple but excellent single room pub just a short walk from Lime Street and Central stations. The interior is relatively basic, with wooden floors and white walls plus the odd bit of attractive panelling and partitioning. The windows have etched glass, although I think they are relatively recent additions. Seating at the front of the pub and opposite the servery is limited to a few long benches and standard chairs, although a raised seating area at the rear of the room provides additional options. There are a couple of display cabinets around the room with what appeared to be medicinal bottles inside, presumably to tie in with the pubs name, whilst a number of old metal signs adorn the walls to the rear, including a large ‘Liverpool: Drive With Care’ road sign. For some strange reason, the pub’s old name (The Grapes) is still spelt out in large letters above the bar.
The pub is the current Liverpool and District CAMRA pub of the Year and they certainly did their best to convince me of their worthiness to such a title with a very strong line up of Cain’s Bitter and Blonde Bird, Oakham Inferno, Marble Chocolate Marble, George Wright Marks Mild and Hawkshead Lakeland Gold, which was later replaced by Hawkshead NZPA – the latter being a highlight amongst all the great beer sampled in Liverpool, although at 6% I had to restrict my consumption lest I should end up more bombed out than the church around the corner.
I really liked the simplicity of this place – it may not have the architectural splendour of the Philharmonic or the vast beer range of the Ship and Mitre, but it makes the best of everything it does have and creates a drinking environment that is the match for anywhere in town.
On 8th March 2012
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Dispensary
Bought by Cains in 1998 and re-invented as a Victorian style alehouse. Pharmaceutical items fixtures and fittings from old chemist shops are on display. Won Camra Liverpool and Districts Pub of the Year 2010 and 2011. I downed quite a few pints of George Wrights Marks Mild on my last visit. Brilliant!
On 9th February 2012
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Dispensary
Popular drinkers pub in the 2011 Good Beer Guide with a great range of real ales. Chose Fernandes 99 Arches and Sadlers E Type Jag, both in good condition and enjoyable. Screens showing the footy results, but also a foreign screen presumably for wider choice.
On 6th March 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about The Dispensary
Comfortable old high ceilinged and dark wood pub selling well kept beers, mainly the Cains range plus two or three guests. There is a lower seating area round the bar with a TV for sport, and a lounge like upper area with softer seats. Service is always good and it's a friendly place. It is quite popular with us coffin dodgers. Formerly called the Grapes.
==Autumn 2010 Update==
The Cains beers seem to have gone except a few bottles, otherwise a good range of well kept beers. This Saturday afternoon there were fewer coffin dodgers in than usual. The bar man was explaining the range of "lagers" ( five European pilsners and bocks) to the uninitiated. It is the 2010 CAMRA Merseyside pub of the year. It also has three shelves of malt whiskies.
On 3rd October 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3269 recommendations about 2978 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Dispensary
Fairly small, architecturally unremarkable, split-level layout with some original features and a selection of pharmaceutical memorabilia about the walls (and the former name displayed above the bar). However, it has a good atmosphere and is obviously a proper beer-drinkers pub with a excellent range of Cains beers and local guest ales (e.g. a first-class pint of Brimstage Trapper's Hat Bitter at £2.65) and a cider from the eight handpumps. Rightly popular with the local CAMRA branch.
On 20th June 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Dispensary
Pleasant enough pub serving Cains and a couple of guests. We first called in on a Wednesday early evening and it was very quiet. Has some nice bits of panelling etc around the bar. Friendly guy behind the bar who let the other half try one of the guest ales to see if she liked it. We called back on a Saturday and it was busy, but not totally heabing like everywhere else round this part of town. It's a good pub.
On 12th October 2009
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]