The Refreshment Rooms, Rock Ferry, Birkenhead

It's always good to see a closed pub re-open especially when it does so with a range of real ales. I have good memories of the Admiral as it was called for many years, now reverting to it's original name. It was one the first pubs in the area to stock Special Cask Bitter when Whitbread West Pennines finally acknowledged the real ale revolution in the 70s and I actually won a few medals playing for the pub football team.



The Refreshment Rooms in the 1880s

The Refreshment Rooms (CH42 1LS) was built in the 1870s to cash in on the trade from the adjacent Rock Ferry when ferries were the only way for the public to cross the river Mersey until the underground rail tunnel was drilled. The imposing Royal Rock Hotel over the road was well known in the region and the prestigious Royal Mersey Yacht Club, whose current patron is the Duke of Edinburgh and members include King Harald of Norway, is just 50 yards away.

However, the construction of the 1st Mersey Tunnel did for the outlying ferry routes. Later in the 20th century the Tranmere Oil Terminal ruined the view across the Mersey, as it still does, and even worse, a late 60s act of planning vandalism, the Rock Ferry by-pass, decimated the adjacent Rock Park estate of 18th century merchant's mansions. The Admiral had previously been 400 yards from the nearest railway station, bus stops and shops but the replacement road bridge over the by-pass took a tortuous route leaving the pub in a backwater.



Not the most inspiring river view even after I've cropped the worst bit.

The pub still  did reasonably well for a number of years, partly because it's secluded position, close to but somehow cut off from the rest of the community gave it a special atmosphere, but it struggled like many other pubs in recent years before it closed, seemingly for good.

Re-opened by new owners who have a track record of rejuvenating tired pubs; a mixture of cask beers, good value food, live music and discouraging unruly elements has worked well and the pub is doing very well. Lees have funded the beer engines and provide three beers, and other beers are usually sourced from local favourites Brimstage and Liverpool Organic.

A recent visit on a Sunday afternoon showed a reasonable numbers of punters at the bar and families dining, with a good proportion of the custom female so the pub seems to be back on it's feet.

By the way, anyone who's aware of Duffy's CD 'Rockferry' may like to know that it is named after this Rock Ferry. She has family in the area and has fond memories of visits here. Her Auntie Mo works for the same company as I do.

Bah Humbug!

Contrast our miserable Nannyist state's 'Don't exceeed the recommended units', 'Don't drive the morning after a night out' and Don't forget that public transport ceases to exist at Christmas' messages with Belgium, where I spent a very pleasant time last weekend.

Over there, the conspicuous consumption of ultra-strong Christmas beers, gluhkriek and jenevers is almost compulsory and trains, buses and trams run 365 days a year. They even lay on extra buses after midnight on New Year's Eve to take the revellers home to their outlying villages. Just like they do in the U.K. (I wish).

Rose & Crown, Bebington

The Rose & Crown in Bebington Village is a Thwaites pub about a mile and a half from my house. It was my (very) regular for over 25 years. My first  visit was after my last day at Wirral Grammar School and from then on I could be found there on most days of the week listening to the juke box and playing darts. I captained the darts team and couldn't imagine it not being my local until marriage started to gradually curtail pub visits - as it does. It sold just two cask beers; Bitter and Mild, but in vast quantities.

It was a fixture in the GBG for over 20 years until changes in management and the perception that Thwaites' had lost their way took their toll. Still a very popular drinkers' pub (no food) the beer quality nowadays is pretty good and seasonal beers plus the odd guest have spiced up the range.

Finally getting to the point of this post, it's had a bit of a spruce up recently. Thwaites have been spending a few bob on their pubs and rolling out a new corporate image. You can see the difference  between the investment by the traditional pub-owning brewers and the total lack of it by most of the Pubcos who extract vast sums from their leaseholders while giving little or nothing back in return.

Anyway, it looks pretty smart externally and internally. Who pays you may ask? Amazingly, not the drinker. Thwaites Bitter which was £2.50 a pint previously is now down to £2.25!

Stella Artois Christmas Bottle

Following on from my piece about fancy packaging of beer if you aren't aware of ABInbev's festive offering it's pictured below:

So all that's needed to change wife-beater into a desirable craft beer is an embossed, corked bottle with a champagne enclosure. Easy eh?

 

It sounds so innocent

There's plenty of comment about David Cameron's announcement regarding the minimum pricing of alcohol. Leaving behind the very dubious reasoning for the move, one reason why the backlash won't be huge is the phrase itself. You can here people thinking to themselves " minimum, well that's nearly the same as low, and low pricing sounds o.k." Also, "45p; well I'm paying a lot more than that now for a pint/shot/short so it won't be a problem."

Of course, it will be a problem though because the more savvy of us well realise that a typical alcoholic drink has multiple units of alcohol. No doubt the confusion of what a 'unit' actually is will be exploited by retailers as an explanation for profiteering - "sorry for the price rise, but it's the minimum pricing to blame".

As many of us know it's only the start. Alcoholics don't stop drinking because a bottle of whisky goes up in price by £1.00. So when' statistics' are produced to show that binge drinking is still a problem the health lobby will say that the minimum price per unit is too low and demand a further increase: then another, and another.

I saw you coming

Harry Enfield's and Paul Whitehouses's T.V series may not not get the audiences of some years back but still makes some clever observations.

I checked out Shepherd Neame's Generation Ale which had looked interesting. Here's some information from the brewery:

"Generation Ale launched in 2011 as a limited edition ale hand-crafted to commemorate five generations of Shepherd Neame as an independent family brewery.

With only 3,000 bottles released, Generation Ale boasts a 12-month ageing process resulting in a rich, full-bodied ale to be savoured and enjoyed.  Beautifully packaged in a wooden presentation box, Generation is a collectors’ item and the ultimate gift for ale lovers.

Generation Ale is presented in a traditional amber bottle, embossed with the Shepherd Neame crook.  Each bottle is hand-wrapped in paper and encased within a wooden box bearing the signature approval of chief executive Jonathan Neame.  With an ABV of 9% and served in a 75cl bottle, the beer is priced at £17.50 and exclusively available from Shepherd Neame. The perfect ale to sip, share and savour with friends, Generation is the ultimate beer from Britain’s oldest brewer."

The £17.50 doesn't include £5.00 postage!  No recession in Toryland then.

 

 

 

 

120

........is the maximum number of drinkers allowed in Port Street Beer House, Manchester. At least that's what the security bod told me as a reaon for leaving me standing on the pavement for five minutes yesterday. Was he telling the truth or being a jobsworth? I've been in any number of pubs much fuller than this was. Or is it because craft beer drinkers need more space to protect or show off their expensive purchases.

Wetherspoons are different in Essex

I stayed overnight in Braintree last Saturday. Tranmere were due to play an FA Cup tie on Sunday lunchtime so I'd decided to travel down the day before. It was an expensive trip as the match was postponed an hour before kick off.

Anyway, my Northerner prejudices were demolished as I found it a pleasant town with friendly locals. I drank some excellent beer in Braintree including a Mild (!) and also in Chelmsford. Late evening I was tempted into the local Wetherspoons by their beer festival. A cavernous former cinema I was surprised to find a mixture of Dance and R & B music playing at a high volume. There was also Italian football on numerous screens. Is this a change of tack for Wetherspoons? I've not been in one of their pubs before with loud music playing. I found the juxtaposition of drinking Minagof Pale Ale from Guam while watching the Essex youth singing along to Ne-Yo blasting out from the sound system rather surreal.