The Tin Shed, Formby

The Tin Shed in Formby village

It's always good to hear about a new pub, so I was pleased to learn that a new micropub, the Tin Shed, had opened in Formby a couple of months ago. My old school friend Roland and I hadn't met since several months before the first lockdown, so we chose this for our first pint together for a long time.

It is in a former shop on Brows Lane in Formby village. It is pleasantly decorated with woodchip and wood planks on one wall, perhaps to suit the name 'shed', and with some outdoor seating to the front. We were made very welcome by Jack who runs the pub, and we found there was generally a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.Thirst things first: there are four handpumps with a changing range of real ales. When we called in, the choice was Wily Fox Dublin' Up Stout, Black Lodge Pale Ale, Wily Fox Citra Golden, and an unfined Blonde ale. Roland and I tried them all and we were happy to find they were well looked after and enjoyable.

Other drinks included Shed Head and Poretti lagers, Fiery Fox 6.5% cider and Somersby keg cider. Also available are gluten-free and alcohol-free options, plus spirits, wines and coffee. You can buy two large wines and a cheesebox for £20, but otherwise there's no food other than snacks such as crisps; however, you can take your own food in as long as you're buying the beer.

Your canine pal is welcome, there is free WiFi, and there is a TV which was on for the sport for part of our visit, but after a while was switched off.

All in all, Roland and I had a great afternoon catching up over some good beers in a great bar that is definitely a welcome addition to the Formby real ale scene.

The Tin Shed is at 60 Brows Lane, Formby, L37 4ED, less than ten minutes' walk from Formby Station and near the main bus routes. Their phone number is 01704 808220 and they are on Facebook and Instagram. Opening times are 2pm to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 2pm to 9pm on Sunday.

► This is one of a series of articles that I write for the CAMRA column in our local papers, the Southport Visiter and Ormskirk Advertiser. Older articles on local pubs are here.

New micropub for Southport

The first Beer Den

Some good news for a change! Parker Brewery has just been given planning permission to convert a former shop at 125 Rufford Road, Southport, into a new micropub. The brewery already runs the popular Beer Den which opened just over two years ago on Duke Street, Southport. Work has only just begun on the new pub, and it will be run in a similar way to its older sibling serving local cask ales, wines, fizz, spirits and coffee.

Parker Brewery is in Banks, just north of Southport, and it produces both traditional and modern ales in casks and bottles. The new Beer Den (as it will also be called) will sell the brewery's real ales alongside local guest ales. This micropub will be a welcome development in Crossens, a beer desert at present, with thirsty drinkers currently having to trek either to the Shrimper or to the pubs in Churchtown. I'll let you know the opening date when it becomes available.

► This is taken from an article that I wrote for the CAMRA column in our local papers, the Southport Visiter and Ormskirk Advertiser.

Fined at the Grasshopper

A 'Meet The Brewer' night with a difference: the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of COLAPS (Coast Of Lancashire Ale Preservation Society, a branch of SPBW) at the Grasshopper on Sandon Road, Southport, will be John Marsden from Melwood Brewery giving a talk to on 'Fishy Business - what brewers add to beer!' Apparently he has offered to bring samples.

I presume the reference is to isinglass, a substance derived from the swim bladders of fish and used as finings to clear beer by dragging all the yeast and any other particles to the bottom. As I cannot stand the smell, let alone the taste, of any form of fish or seafood, it's just as well finings cannot be detected in the beer by our senses, remaining as they do at the bottom of the cask with the yeast.

Melwood Brewery is based in Knowsley Park in the old Kennels that once housed Lord Derby’s gundogs. The meeting is on Monday 7 August at 7.30 pm.

Open house at the Grasshopper

With the Open Golf coming to Southport, Birkdale to be precise, the Grasshopper in nearby Hillside tells me that they are putting on 'The Open mic night' which will very loosely have a golf theme. It will an acoustic-only evening (so not deafening!) to celebrate the Open without the 'mic', and anyone who is so inclined is welcome to join in.

Pete Rimmer of the Bothy Folk Club will be running proceedings, and I've been asked to go along and contribute a few songs. 

The Grasshopper always has a good range of real ales on offer, and is at 70 Sandon Road, Southport, PR8 4QD, handy for bus and train.

Tap & Bottles song sessions

The Tap & Bottles in Southport has asked me to run an acoustic song night once a month. This will take place on the final Monday of each month from about 8.30pm. Unlike an open mike night, there will be no amplification. It will be open to all types of music, rather than being confined to one specific genre.

The Tap & Bottles always has some interesting real ales on, as well a large selection of bottled beers - hence the name, of course. It was a micropub, but since it has expanded into the shop next door (which is where the song session will take place), I'm not sure how accurate that term is any more.

The first song session will be on Monday 27 March. The Tap & Bottles is at 19 Cambridge Walks, Southport, PR8 1EN. All welcome either to perform or just listen.

COLAPS at the Grasshopper in Southport.

Views of the Grasshopper, home of COLAPS

I have been sent this information about a new beer appreciation group being set up in Southport. It will be a branch of Society for Preservation of Beers from the Wood, (SPBW) which I joined many years ago at a CAMRA beer festival, but I let my membership lapse as it had no local presence in Merseyside or Lancashire at that time. That now looks like changing.

A new branch of SPBW is being formed in Southport by a group of local beer enthusiasts. The branch will cover Merseyside and the Coast of Lancashire and inland areas served by transport links to Southport and will name itself the Coast of Lancashire Ale Preservation Society or COLAPS for short. 

SPBW was founded in 1963 and predates the beer campaigning group CAMRA by several years. Whilst it shares many of the same aims as CAMRA, the emphasis is less on political lobbying and campaigning, and more on the social side of things. The intention is to promote good beer by drinking the stuff.

The new branch describes its aims as:

1. to stimulate the brewi ng and encourage the drinking of traditional draught beer, drawn direct from the cask by gravity, or by a hand pump, or by other traditional methods. 
2. to lend support to those brewers who brew good quality cask conditioned beer and those pubs who serve cask conditioned beer in excellent condition. 
3. to encourage consumption of cask conditioned ales served in convivial environments without modern distractions such as television, loud music and gambling machines.
4. to encourage the revival of traditional serving methods such as the use of wooden casks for beer dispense. To support and encourage breweries and pubs who use wooden casks and coopers that produce them.

The first meeting of the group is at 7.30pm on Monday 6 March at The Grasshopper Micropub, 70 Sandon Road, Southport. Everyone with an interest in beer or having a good time is welcome to attend. They plan to have regular monthly meetings on the first Monday of every month at the Grasshopper and a series of guest speakers are lined up.

Chairman Simon Barter said, "We want to make the meetings as friendly and welcoming as possible. They will be more social than procedural. We want people to come along and pitch in with ideas for outings to great pubs, breweries and beer festivals and the like."

Lancashire Day at the Grasshopper

I have been sent details of this local event. The Grasshopper micropub in Hillside will be holding a special event on Lancashire Day on Sunday 27 November. The date commemorates the first time that Lancashire sent representatives to Parliament, to attend the Model Parliament of Edward I in 1295.

The celebration will include:

• Traditional Lancashire hotpot.
• A fun Lancashire quiz.
• The Lancashire day proclamation.
• A Lancashire-themed raffle.

The raffle prizes will be:

• A large luxury hamper of Lancashire goodies, including a selection of Lancashire ales. 
• A hamper of Lancashire ales. 
• 2 tickets for a Southport football club match. 
• 2 tickets for a cricket fixture at Trafalgar Road.

Tickets are £1.00 and will be available on the night, or in advance; just ask behind the bar. It will be drawn on Sunday 27 November at 9.30. All proceeds from the raffle, quiz and food will be donated to the Hillside Christmas decorations fund.

The Grasshopper will be dedicating this Lancashire Day event to two great Lancastrian lasses: Jean Alexander and Victoria Wood.

Opening hours extended: the Grasshopper has just been given permission to open longer by Sefton Council. It now opens at 5.00 pm Monday to Friday and 2.00 pm at weekends, and closes at 10.30 pm on Friday and Saturday and 10.0 pm other nights.

The Grasshopper is at 70 Sandon Road, just off Waterloo Road, in Hillside, Southport. There is plenty of free street parking, the 47 bus passes just yards away, and it's a five minute walk to Hillside Station.

Self-promotion

I'm playing the Tap & Bottles micropub tomorrow afternoon (Sunday 3.00 to 5.00pm), if you're at a loose end. It's my third gig at this great little venue which has several real ales and loads of bottled beers. 

On this occasion I'll be accompanied by drummer Clive Pownceby, who is a fellow member of the Lunchtime Legends rock & roll band. 

The Tap & Bottles is in Cambridge Walks in Southport town centre.

Naked self-promotion, I know - although I will actually be clothed.

Hillside Cider and Sausage Festival

The Grasshopper

The Grasshopper micropub in Hillside, which opened earlier this year, is holding its first festival, the Hillside Cider and Sausage Festival 5 - 7 August. At the time of writing, they had lined up 15 of the best ciders from around the country including Hogans, Lilleys, Abrahalls, Pulp Craft Cider, WM Watkins and Lancashire's own Dove Sykes. Local cafes Sixty6 and Langberry's have agreed to join the party and provide the food.

They want to keep the prices down, aiming to charge around £3 for a pint of cider; if you prefer to try a wider range, half and third pint measures will be available. There's a discount for CAMRA members (membership has its perks), and they hope to have some live music during the weekend.

The Grasshopper is at 70 Sandon Road, Hillside, Southport. The 47 bus passes nearby, and it's a short walk to Hillside Station.

Adapted from an article I wrote for the local paper.

The good old days are now

The Best Pubs Around Merseyside is an old CAMRA guide from 1990, and I contrasted in 2011 and 2013 what it wrote about pubs and breweries at that time with the situation as it is now. A 'stop press' item in the guide reported that Boddington's, which owned Liverpool brewery Higson's, had sold all its brewing interests to Whitbread. It explained sadly that "all indications are that Higson's, Liverpool's only brewery, will close in the very near future with the consequential loss jobs and the loss of the last Mild and Bitter beers brewed in Liverpool. So-called Higson's beers brewed elsewhere, particularly by Whitbread, will not be the same." This gloomy prognosis proved correct in every respect, and the general view was that we wouldn't see brewing in the city again.

The writers had no way of knowing that within two and a half decades, Britain would have more breweries than at any time since the 1930s. Six months ago the Liverpool Echo listed 19 breweries in Merseyside, also mentioning several others slightly further afield. Sales of real ale are standing up with actual increases reported in recent years, in contrast to the beer market as a whole which remains in decline, although the rate of decline is slowing.

The reduction of beer sales mirrors the continuing closures of pubs every year. There are new outlets such as micropubs and small niche bars opening up, but while these are welcome and many seem to be doing well, they tend to be small and don't replace all the pub capacity lost to closures.

I've written before that at some point the simultaneous phenomena of more breweries and fewer pubs will collide. I was chatting to the licensee of a real ale pub last week and he was telling me that we are beginning to lose small breweries to closures, a process he saw accelerating in coming months and years. While some new breweries may still open, I can't see the increases we've seen in recent years continuing indefinitely as we edge closer to market saturation.

I suppose that brewers who don't have to rely on beer sales for their livelihood might be able to survive better by undercutting their competitors, but that isn't a good long-term strategy for the industry as a whole. Given a broader choice, customers are increasingly expecting quality as standard, and brewers whose products are inconsistent or lacklustre will go to the wall.

The proud talk of there being a record number of breweries describes a situation that is not sustainable in the long term, and I expect that at some point we'll be mourning the demise of some of the breweries whose existence we are now celebrating. We're probably enjoying something of a golden age, but golden ages never last.

The Pines real ale café bar in Hillside

Customers sunning themselves
outside The Pines

Looking in my local paper, I read an article that stated a new café bar had opened in Hillside, just around the corner from the Grasshopper micropub that I wrote about in March. I've been watching this site for a while and it seemed for ages that nothing much was happening. I decided there and then to drive over to have a look (two buses otherwise).

It's called The Pines, and it serves two real ales, which when I called were Old School Brewery Hopscotch and Southport Golden Sands. I went for the Hopscotch, and was charged £1.65 for a pint. It seems I had called during their happy hour when on weekdays drinks are half price. My pint was fine. They also serve food, coffee, wines and spirits. It was a nice sunny day and the front doors were wide open, with everyone sitting outside.

I stuck with one pint as I was driving, but will pay a proper visit soon. In the space of a few months, Hillside has gone from no pubs or bars to two; you can have a mini-pub crawl there now. It's easy to get to: the 47 bus passes just yards away, and it's a five minute walk to Hillside Station.

Cask - award-winning Liverpool micropub

Cask in Stoneycroft

To Liverpool this week to visit Liverpool CAMRA's Pub of the Year for 2016: Cask, a micropub in Stoneycroft, was opened in July 2015 in a former corner shop. It is a single-roomed bar, lightly decorated with interesting items on the walls; large windows make it light and airy. Proprietors Ian and Michelle welcome customers, many by name, and they estimate that about 80% live locally: Cask is clearly becoming part of the community.

The beers are constantly changing and when my friend and I arrived, they were: Tiny Rebel One Inch Punch, Offbeat Hinkey Herkulean Hopper, Blackjack Pokies and Skinners Penny Come Quick Stout. I thought I knew my beer, but some were new to me. Two ran out while we were there and were replaced by Shiny Mandaria Pale and Offbeat Kooky Gold, with Salopian Far Side and Liverpool Organic Bier Head lined up next. At weekends, the number of beers on offer goes up to five. Between the two of us, we tried most of these, and all were very drinkable. They prefer to buy beers from smaller breweries, both local and from across the country.

They stock two changing ciders - on the day they were Rosie's Triple D Cider and Orchard Pig Explorer - plus a range of continental beers and a selection of wines. While we were there, a group of young women came in to share a bottle of Prosecco, so it's not just real ale types who like the place.

Cask offers the following: oversized glasses to guarantee a full measure; third of a pint glasses; try before you buy; and two pint carry-outs. Children are allowed with well-behaved parents, but no dogs. No food, other than snacks such as crisps.

There was a friendly and relaxed atmosphere with people coming and going during the afternoon: we certainly enjoyed the couple of hours we spent there.

Cask is at: 438 Queens Drive West Derby, Liverpool, L13 0AR. Tel: 07747 034499. No car park, but buses (60, 81 and 81A) pass frequently; coming from the Bootle direction, get off just after the Jolly Miller pub on your left. Opening hours: Monday closed; Tuesday to Friday 4.00pm to 9.30pm; Satruday and Sunday 2.00pm to 9.30pm.

This is part of a series of articles that I am writing for the CAMRA column in our local paper, the Southport Visiter. Previous reviews are here.

New micropub updates

The Stocks: the micropub that never was
(picture from Google street view)

In August last year, I wrote "Subject to planning permission, Molloys furniture shop at 589 Lord Street, Southport, will be converted into a real ale bar with outdoor seating to the front." This has now opened as Peaky Blinders, apparently the name of a Brummie criminal gang more than a century ago.

It's not a real ale bar. There was one real ale when I visited: an indifferent pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord at a steep £3.75 a pint. The bar seems popular, but not with any real ale drinkers I know, especially as there is a choice of real ales from 75p to £1.05 cheaper about a minute's walk away in the Guest House. It serves a purpose, but cannot be seen as a serious contender on the micropub scene.

In September I reported that planning permission to open a micropub/beer shop in Churchtown had been sought by a Mr Lee Coates. The pub was to be called the Stocks, after an old set of stocks on the village green nearby. Although planning permission had been granted, Mr Coates has decided to pull the plug on the project, according to the Southport Visiter. The only explanation given is that Mr Coates and the landlord failed to reach an agreement.  

This is a shame, as it would have provided some welcome diversity to the pub scene in Churchtown, which has two traditional old pubs, each fine in its own way (see my post from 2014), but not much else.

At least the Grasshopper in Hillside, which I described yesterday, seems to have made a good start.

Hop in to the Grasshopper

The Grasshopper on its first day

Last week on St Patrick's Day, I decided to go to Southport's newest micropub on its opening day: the Grasshopper at 70 Sandon Road, just off Waterloo Road, in Hillside. The premises were once a branch of Martins Bank, which had a grasshopper trademark. When I arrived, there was already a comfortable hum of conversation as hosts Angie and Andrew made customers welcome. The décor is minimalist: one wall is stripped to the bricks, the rest are painted white, the floor is bare wood, and it is furnished with tall tables and chairs.

The bar has four handpumps and two fonts. On my visit, the real ales were: Parker Centurion Pale Ale, Burscough Priory Gold, Rock The Boat Bootle Bull, and George Wright St Patrick's Black Gold; these are all local beers, and the ones I tried were in good form. The choice will change, and the 'Coming Soon' notice board looked promising. The prices are reasonable, and they sell you third of a pint measures if you want. The fonts dispense two beers from the Outstanding Brewery of Bury: White, a wheat beer, and Pilsner. They also offer a choice of wines.

There is no food, but they have made an arrangement with the chip shop across the road that they will deliver to the pub, so you can have a swift drink while you wait. Children are admitted until around 6.00pm, and dogs are welcome too. Andrew told me they have the premises next door and they may in time expand into there, but not just yet. There is plenty of free street parking, the 47 bus passes just yards away, and it's a five minute walk to Hillside Station.

By the time I left, it was pretty busy with around thirty people, most from the immediate area. It is open 4.00 to 9.30pm Monday to Friday, and noon to 9.30pm on Saturday and Sunday. This micropub meets a long-standing need in Hillside: hop in if you get the chance.

This is part of a series of articles that I am writing for the CAMRA column in our local paper, the Southport Visiter. Previous reviews are here.

7 out of 10 pubs serve real ale

Great news: research* has shown that 70% of pubs now serve real ale'. However, I note that CAMRA says that "micropubs [are] leading the way". I tend to find hyperbole irritating, and this statement is a good example. There are in the UK:

• 53,444 pubs.
• 37,356 pubs serving real ale.
• 150 micropubs.

This means that micropubs represent 0.4% of real ale pubs. The oldest, the Butcher's Arms in Herne, Kent, is now 10 years old, and yet the turnaround in real ale's fortunes goes back a lot longer than that, as we all know. While I fully agree micropubs are a very welcome addition to the real ale scene, I am struggling to see precisely how they are leading the way. As this hype was contained in a CAMRA press release about the next Good Beer Guide, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised: commerce often supplants reality when you've a product to sell.

Still, the good news is that nowadays we generally don't have to hunt very hard to find a reasonable pint as we had to in the past. I say 'generally' because there are certain types of areas in the UK that remain real ale deserts, such as some economically depressed areas, many council estates and anywhere else devoid of a middle class voices and, more importantly, comfortable disposable incomes. The attitude is clearly any old smooth rubbish for the masses. 

* Research conducted using CAMRA's WhatPub database and CGA-CAMRA Pub Tracker.

Stocks for Churchtown

The site of Stocks, a new micropub for Southport.
Photo from Google street view.

It looks as though we may be getting another micropub, or beer shop, in Southport, this time in the northern urban village of Churchtown. Subject to planning permission, Stocks will be opened on Manor Road, near the roundabout with Botanic Road, and will sell "a variety of high quality bottled beers, cask ales and keg beers for consumption on the premises and for take away". While they intend to stock beers from around the world, they say there will be an emphasis on local brews. Wine and soft drinks will also be available.

Churchtown isn't a beer desert: there are two old pubs within five minutes' walk of the proposed site of Stocks: the Bold and the Hesketh. I wrote about them both here last year. Both serve real ale, but neither has a particularly adventurous range. I assume what they supply suits their own customers, but there is a different type of customer to whom beer shops or micropubs such as the Stocks tend to appeal: drinkers of real ale, craft beer and increasingly available unusual bottled beers for whom the familiar regional brews have a limited attraction. I can't see that either existing pub need have much to fear from this new beer outlet: on the contrary, it may make Churchtown more of a destination for drinkers with three pubs within a short walk of each other, especially as they are on a direct and frequent bus route (the 49) from the centre of Southport.

The name Stocks is after the set of stocks dating from 1741 that can be found by the wall of the nearby St Cuthbert’s Church which overlooks the village green.

This is part of a series of articles that I am writing for the CAMRA column in our local paper, the Southport Visiter. Previous reviews are here.

The Corner Post micropub

The Corner Post

I'm happy to report that yet another new micropub has opened locally: the Corner Post in Brighton-le-Sands in Crosby, less than ten minutes' walk from Blundellsands & Crosby railway station. The premises used to be the local post office, and there is still a postbox outside. It is not large, but good use has been made of the available space: the door is on the street corner, there is a drinking alcove where the fireplace used to be, and it is pleasantly and unobtrusively decorated. 

The beers that were on when I visited with my friend who lives locally were: Peerless Pale; Rock The Boat Dazzle; Liverpool Organic Joseph Williamson; Red Star Formby Blonde; and Henry Weston's Family Reserve Cider. Other drinks include red, white, rosé wine and Liverpool Gin. I tried three of the beers, including the Formby Blonde and the Dazzle, neither of which I'd had before. Of the two I preferred the Formby Blonde, but there was nothing wrong with any of the beers on offer.

Although the micropub had been open for little over a week when we visited, there was a comfortable, relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and I bumped into a former colleague whom I had not seen for at least seven years, which led to some nostalgic chatting. I gather that the launch had been nerve racking, but they seemed to have got into their stride; my friend certainly anticipated calling in regularly. The Corner Post is at 25 Bridge Road, Brighton-le-Sands, Crosby, L23 6SA. Enquiries: [email protected]

Other micropub news

Subject to planning permission, Molloys furniture shop at 589 Lord Street, Southport, will be converted into a real ale bar with outdoor seating to the front.

In Waterloo, an application has been made for change of use from a shop and café to a micropub brew-tap and off-licence at 77 St Johns Road.

This is part of a series of articles that I am writing for the CAMRA column in our local paper, the Southport Visiter. Previous reviews are here.

Yet another micropub application!

Further to my post last week about a new micropub in Hillside, I've just read that planning permission is being sought for a new real ale bar on Lord Street, Southport. It would supply real ales and beers, tea, coffee and light refreshments to eat in or take away in what is currently Molloy's furniture shop. They have also applied for outside seating in front of the shop, like quite a few other pubs, bars and cafés along the street.

If this and the Hillside proposal are granted permission, the number of micropubs in Southport would increase to five: three in the town centre, the new one in Hillside and one in nearby Birkdale village. I'm wondering whether this reflects what is happening elsewhere in the country, or is Southport something of an exception? Is there a micropub bandwagon effect building up here? I'm also wondering whether any of these people might have considered a pub tenancy if what was offered by the main pub companies wasn't so exploitative, or are these people drawn specifically to this kind of small business?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but would be interested to hear what is happening elsewhere.

Pubs - something old, something new ...

An old photo of the Falstaff

The Falstaff on King Street in Southport was once a great pub. It used to have up to 10 real ales, provided good, reasonably-priced meals and was the original venue for the singaround that now takes place in the Guest House on the first Monday of the month. It went into a slow decline after its licensee, Gail, left to take over the Guest House about 14 years ago. There was a brief interlude when the pub revived under a dynamic young licensee, Adrian Davies, but he was dismissed at short notice by the pubco; Adrian told me he didn't really understand why. It has in recent years advertised itself as an LGBT pub, but I've no idea how well that has gone. The last time I called in a couple of years ago, there were at most half a dozen customers and no real ale. It is a large, single-roomed pub, having expanded some time ago into neighbouring shops, and needs a lot of customers not to appear depressingly empty.

I was pleased to see Inglenook Inns & Taverns, who have taken it over, announce a £325,000 revamp. Inglenook runs the Thatch & Thistle that I wrote positively about recently. According to one of our local papers, the interior will be redesigned to include a coffee lounge, a raised dining area, booths and a zone suitable for larger parties. If as a result of these plans the large expanses are broken up, that would definitely be an improvement. The paper wrongly asserts that food will be provided for the first time: nonsense - the Falstaff used to have a good reputation for its food. It has a large terrace to the front which is great on a summer's day; we had acoustic song sessions there a couple of times. I'm hoping all this revives a pub that I used to regard as my local.

Also in the news are plans for a new micropub in a former shop in Sandon Road near Hillside Station, a couple of stops from Southport on the Liverpool line. The plans include limited opening hours (Monday to Friday 4pm to 9.30pm, and midday to 9.30pm at weekends), no hot food and no music. They haven't got permission yet, but the application is recommended for approval. Hillside is badly served for pubs: there's only The Crown on Liverpool Road. Interestingly, there's also an application to convert a shop into a café bar just around the corner in Hillside Road; if that is approved too, as is recommended, the number of licensed outlets in the area will triple.

This will be the fourth micropub in Southport - I wrote about the others in April. It is interesting that these are opening while some big old pubs in residential areas are suffering and closing, which all suggests less that going to the pub is a declining activity, and more that what people want from pubs is changing.

New micropub for Brighton le Sands

I've just heard about a new micropub being set up in the Crosby area called the Corner Post. It's in a former post office, hence the name and the postbox in their badge, and is a short walk from the Blundellsands & Crosby railway station. Work has been going on since April and they hope to open soon.

It's at 25 Bridge Road, Brighton le Sands, L23 6SA. I have an old friend who lives nearby and we'll visit when it opens: more info then.

Brighton le Sands is an area surrounded by Blundellsands, Crosby and Waterloo, and is a name that that I'd thought was falling into disuse.

P.S. (23 July): the Corner Post opened for business yesterday.