Hiya,

I'm moving house and am looking for a place to live which is commutable
by car / rail to Liverpool and is near a good real ale pub(s).  My
first thoughts are Formby (Freshfield Hotel) and Hoylake (Ship Inn) -
I've never been to either.  Any comments on these pubs or other ideas
would be very much appreciated.  My dream pub would have 3-4 champion
beers as regulars with 4+ ever changing guest beers.  I like to be
suprised when I go into the pub.

I'm also looking at Aughton / Town Green / Ormskirk.  Does anyone know
of any good real ale pubs in these areas?

Thanks

Chris wrote:


> I'm moving house and am looking for a place to live which is commutable
> by car / rail to Liverpool and is near a good real ale pub(s)


Now *that's* sorting the priorities in life, well done that man!

Chris wrote:

> Hiya,
>
> I'm moving house and am looking for a place to live which is commutable
> by car / rail to Liverpool and is near a good real ale pub(s).  My
> first thoughts are Formby (Freshfield Hotel) and Hoylake (Ship Inn) -
> I've never been to either.  Any comments on these pubs or other ideas
> would be very much appreciated.


I don't know the Freshfield, but have had good beer in The Ship (fresh
Deuchars IPA if I remember right) but a friend of mine was in The Ship
one early evening a few weeks ago, drinking & reading his book in an
empty room. The landlord walked in & switched on the TV (to a soap
opera) & walked out again. My mate followed him & asked if he'd
switched it on for a particular reason & was told that the football was
on later (an hour or 2 later!). My mate asked if he might switch it off
for a while, as he was enjoying a quiet pint & a read & was told with a
harumph - "it's not a library!", which the landlord repeated a few
times before walking away.

Classic customer service.


> My dream pub would have 3-4 champion
> beers as regulars with 4+ ever changing guest beers.  I like to be
> suprised when I go into the pub.


If that's what you're used to, you'll be disappointed on the Wirral
side (the only place that springs immediately to mind on Merseyside is
the Ship&Mitre, Dale St, Liverpool) - lots of places on Wirral have
good links to Liverpool (Wirral Line of underground) but few pubs come
close to that in terms of beer range.

The Stork, Birkenhead always has 3-4 well-kept beers on, often incl 1
or 2 microbrews, and is a beautiful (NI listed) pub; however, it's
rumoured that it won't appear in GBG-2006. I was in the pub on Sat pm,
& as ever enjoyed the mildly boisterous atmosphere & tasty beer
(TT-Landlord & lovely Cairngorm Wildcat, but didn't like my mate's
Broadstone Gold, cidery & odd)


> I'm also looking at Aughton / Town Green / Ormskirk.  Does anyone know
> of any good real ale pubs in these areas?


Nope, I'm afraid not,
Good luck,
cheers,
MikeMcG