The Hop Inn Bier Shoppe, Ormskirk

In the centre of Ormskirk, close to the famous clock tower, you will find the Hop Inn Bier Shoppe on Burscough Street. This micropub was converted from a old shop, and its attractive exterior with etched windows and hanging baskets invites you to enter. The interior has been fitted out as a single room bar with dark wood and traditional-style pub seating around the walls.

The real ales on were: Burscough Priory Gold, Deeply Vale DV8 Stout, Robinson's Old Tom and Sheriff IPA. We all found our chosen beers to be very drinkable and, although I don't often drink stouts, I thought the DV8 was excellent. We didn't try the keg beers, but they included Hop Inn German Lager (brewed to the Bavarian Purity Laws) and other continental-style draught beers such as Gamma Ray, Furstenberg, Aspall, Mad Hatter Toxteth IPA and Wiehenstephen. The range of real ales and keg beers varies.

Their selection of more than 100 bottled beers includes Belgian and Dutch Trappist styles, Abbey, Lambic, Pilsners, Fruit Beers and Witbier. They also offer wines, spirits, hot beverages and soft drinks.

For such a small venue, the Hop Inn has quite a few regular events. There is quiz every Wednesday, live music on Fridays and Saturdays either late afternoon or early evening, and on the third Tuesday of the month a poetry group meets. Children and dogs are welcome at quiet times, and there is also free WiFi.

Opening hours are: Sunday and Monday 11.00 to 18.00; Tuesday 16.00 to 23.00; Wednesday to Sunday 11.00 to 23.00. The address is 12 Burscough Street, Ormskirk, L39 2ER. Tel: 01695 575907. They are also on Facebook. The bus and railway stations are both less than a quarter of a mile away.

While we were on Burscough Street, we looked at the outside of the Buck i'th Vine, a lovely old coaching house dating from the 17th and 18th centuries which closed down last year. Planning permission was granted to convert it into student accommodation, but then I heard it was on the market again. It is a pity that such a characterful pub has been lost. It did not look to us as though anything was happening to it at present.

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.