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The Cowley Vaults, St. Helens

Pub added by peter ashworth
50 Cooper Street
St. Helens
WA10 2BH

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Brainy Pool left this review about The Cowley Vaults

didn’t expect this pub to be as good as it was - six real ales (plus two ciders) in a range of styles - had a Salopian Lemon Dream in good form. Friendly service. simple L-shaped layout with a few nice features. Well worth a visit if you’re calling into the Turks next door.

On 8th February 2020 - rating: 8
[User has posted 1051 recommendations about 1016 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Real Ale Ray left this review about The Cowley Vaults

A friendly locals pub that was in party mode on our Thursday afternoon visit. It turned out it was one of the regular's Birthday, so the TV was belting out lots of music, on a 70s music channel. We were offered some Birthday cake, but unfortunately I declined as I had just had a cheese and onion barm in the Turks Head next door. Six ales on handpump so I went for the Ossett Excelsius, which was in good shape and the prices were also reasonable.

On 30th January 2020 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3378 recommendations about 3378 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Will Larter left this review about The Cowley Vaults

According to WhatPub this is in the same ownership as the Turks Head along the road (unless they mean something completely different by the phrase "sister pub"), but there's almost no family relationship: chalk and cheese, dogs and cats, William and Harry; that sort of different. There's much more of a back street local feel to this one. There are half a dozen real ales and two ciders on the bar (see photo for the ale choice). I went for the Ossett Excelsius, which was in good condition. I really liked the Turks Head and would come back if in St Helens again; in which case it would be daft not to pop in here as well if time allowed. But if there was only one pub on this street I couldn't see myself making a special trip to the Cowley Vaults.

On 27th January 2020 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3699 recommendations about 3440 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about The Cowley Vaults

This is a nice back street boozer located a short walk from the town centre, in an area blessed with a few other good ale houses. The pub seems to have been opened out from a previous multiple room layout, leaving a decent sized single room, with the main entrance taking you directly to the bar area. This is a tiled floor space with the dark wood tongue and groove counter opposite the front door, under a pleasant hop-lined gantry. To the left, there is a compact seating area with nice, long padded banquettes along the front and left walls with some low stools in support and a collection of Good Beer Guides and a CAMRA certificate on the back on the banquettes. Some nice old pictures of the town have been hung on the walls alongside paintings of the local rugby league team’s stadium, whilst a TV screen was showing a retro music channel with the sound on. To the right, the room opens out more once you’re beyond the servery, providing a rather plain space dominated by a pool table which is positioned in such a way as to render the dartboard behind it totally unusable. Towards the rear, some more banquettes and low stools can be found in a carpeted space decorated with black and white photos, some nice brewery mirrors and another TV screen showing muted football. Visiting shortly after opening on a Sunday, I found myself the only customer here, which didn’t strike me as that strange until I discovered other pubs close by were doing a brisk trade.
I believe this place has re-invented itself as a bit of an ale house in recent times, and the signs at the bar certainly looked promising, with a choice of Thwaites wainwright, Titanic Plum Porter, Taylor Landlord, Jennings Cumberland, Moorhouse White Witch and York Guzzler plus two ciders on the handpulls. The barman offered me a CAMRA discount before pouring me a half of the Guzzler (£1.50 without discount), which wasn’t in great shape and tasted like the line could’ve done with being pulled through.
I quite liked this place and felt that I probably wasn’t seeing it at its best thanks to the timing of my visit. The beer quality is certainly a bit of a concern and perhaps they’ll consider taking an ale or two off if trade doesn’t pick up, but allowing for the possibility that I just got unlucky, I otherwise liked it here and thought it was a nice, uncomplicated pub that easily lends itself to a crawl of the local area.

On 16th December 2019 - rating: 7
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Al Bundy left this review about The Cowley Vaults

Much improved pub on the outskirts of the town centre. Its been refurbed since the last time I was in a few years ago and though the beer choice isnt as extensive as the nearby Turks Head it is worth popping in. 6 handpulls with a good variety of ales plus local breweries provide some of the beers. Now a decent pub.

On 25th April 2018 - rating: 7
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


peter ashworth left this review about The Cowley Vaults

The Cowley Vaults is situated about half a mile outside St Helens town centre,down a side street adjacent to the Turks Head.The appearance from the outside looked quite promising and had high expectations of a couple of banks of real ale to choose from,but alas no as my thoughts were quickly dashed and it turned out to be just a run of the mill local with a poor hand pump selection.
The pub was clean and tidy and the locals friendly enough but there was nothing special to encourage a return visit.Not a great deal to choose from but opted for the Worthington creamflow which was ok but far to cold for my liking.

On 17th January 2014 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 2318 recommendations about 2275 pubs]