Music events at Remedy, Southport

From A Distance - the Americana festival

This weekend, the Atkinson arts centre in Southport presents its first Americana festival from 20 to 22 September. Guest artists artists include:

l Sarah McQuaid & The Carrivick Sisters
l Sarah Savoy & The Francadians
l Peggy Seeger & special guest Thea Hopkins
l Chastity Brown & Annie Keating
l Kelly Joe Phelps
l Liverpool Harmonic Gospel Choir with Chastity Brown
l Police Dog Hogan
l Trouble In The Fields – A Tribute to Nanci Griffith featuring The Kennedys

The following artists will play free in the foyer:

Sarah McQuaid

l The Grateful Fred Band (foyer session hosts)
l Steve Chapman-Smith
l Peter Aldridge
l The Southbound Attic Band
l The Big I Am
l The Susie Jones Band
l The Good Intentions

There will be several workshops during the weekend as well.
For more details of the artists, dates, times and tickets, click here.

Cross Bay Sunset

I was at the Fylde Folk Festival in Fleetwood last weekend. I didn't have a ticket and so looked to the fringe, where there were quite a few free gigs, singarounds and tunes sessions going on. I gravitated to those in the Strawberry Gardens in Poulton Road. This pub boasts that it has up to 12 real ales and 6 real ciders, and it has won several CAMRA awards. They have also put in a planning application to build a brewery on the site so that Fleetwood Brewing Company can brew up its own beer, First Trawl, locally, rather than under license at Burnley as it is now. If you're ever in Fleetwood, I recommend a visit to this pub.

The pub hosted live gigs downstairs during the festival and upstairs there were informal singarounds that I joined in. The range of beers was excellent, and most were £2.30 a pint for CAMRA members. The two I had the most often were the Cumberland Brewery Corby Blonde, a 4.2% beer, well-balanced with a distinct hoppy flavour and Cross Bay Sunset, described as a Blonde ale, also 4.2% and with a citrus taste to it. I hadn't had the Cumberland before; it's not to be confused with Jennings Cumberland. Cumberland Brewery is in Carlisle and Cross Bay in Morecambe. If you're drinking all day, as you tend to do at a festival, then 4.2% is a good strength that doesn't put you flat on the floor in the evening.

When I arrived at the festival, I was asked by one of the organisers whether I'd like to do a spot on Saturday at the Late Night Cabaret, which began at 11.30pm, and I ended up going on after 1.00am. The venue, the New Boston Hotel, had only one real ale, Thwaites Little Bewdy, a 4.2 % (again) pale ale brewed with Australian hops. I thought that, being Thwaites, it would merely be okay, but it was surprisingly good, with something of a fruity flavour. The pump clip carried on the Australian theme with a silhouette of a kangaroo and cricket stumps.

After I had returned to Southport, I went to my local and there I saw saw among the guest beers, Cross Bay Sunset. I can only conclude that Fate was driving us together.

Pubs and music in Whitby

The Lunchtime Legends in the Elsinore
(photo: Sam Thomas)

I've just had a great time at Whitby Folk Week. The weather was wonderful, there were loads of music sessions taking place in pubs, there was dancing in the streets by various traditional dance sides and of course there was the organised festival itself.

I have written in previous years about the pub scene in Whitby. Here are a few changes I noticed:

The Angel Hotel overlooking the harbour is now a Wetherspoons hotel; I stayed there many years ago when it was a pub B&B. There are two modern looking bars on the ground and first floors serving a range of real ales, Rudgates in particular. There was nothing wrong with the Rudgates, but I wasn't keen and ended up on Moorhouses Blond Witch. At £2.89 a pint, this is the dearest Wetherspoons I have been in outside of London.

The Little Angel on Flowergate how has a good range of five beers at £2.70 a pint, which is cheap for Whitby and beaten only by Sam Smiths pubs; they included Camerons Strongarm, Tetley Bitter, Bradfield Farmers Blonde and two others that changed. They also had a special offer for Folk Week in conjunction with two other pubs (the Fleece and the Wellington): buy 10 get one free. I managed two free pints.

The Golden Lion near the swing bridge has been a Tetley-only pub for as long as I can remember and I hadn't set foot in the place since 1988. It had Pedigree, Black Sheep, Copper Dragon Golden Pippin and one other golden beer that I liked but can't recall the name. I enjoyed a couple of good sessions and several good pints in there.

The best pub for beer remains The Station (formerly the Tap and Spile ands originally the Cutty Sark). It has a good range of eight beers always on, but I mostly stuck with the Ossett Silver King, which saw me through a couple of music sessions there, including one that lasted for seven and a half hours run by my friend Howard and me.

At £3.50 a pint, The Endeavour is the dearest pub in town. The Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted was good, though.

The pub crawl (see previous post) was popular and well supported. I missed out one pub, the Black Horse, because it was packed and I didn't fancy fighting my way through the solid scrum to the bar - it is a very small pub - but I had a pint in each of the others.

The annual Lunchtime Legends rock & roll party in The Elsinore went well as always, with the pub packed. It was great to see a row of children at the front, the oldest nine, who all sat there throughout the whole three hours enjoying themselves, joining in the songs and the arm waving to the anthems, and in one case even buying a CD. One girl sang the whole chorus of Poison Ivy into the microphone. We are, I was reliably told, better than One Direction - high praise indeed. After a 35-song set, my voice was slightly knackered.

I've already provisionally booked accommodation for next year.

Music at the Marina

A musical event with a difference: there are two afternoons of live music at the Scarisbrick Marina (on the A570 Southport to Ormskirk Road) this Saturday and Sunday, the 6 and 7 July. Take your own chair and booze if required, although there will apparently be plenty of tea! The Marina is near the Blue Elephant Indian restaurant (formerly the Red Lion pub).

So cool they don't exist!

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival takes place in California every year. It's extremely popular, especially with what Americans call hipsters, people who like to know (or to appear to know) every obscure band going: what we'd call posers over here - different terms, same principle! So ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live show sent a camera crew this year to ask festival goers about bands that are so obscure that they don't exist! The clip last 2:45, and it's one of the very few things for a good while that has made me laugh aloud.

Southport Jazz Festival ~ jazz and real ale

Not recommended as a drinking vessel

The Southport Jazz Festival returns this month, 10 to 12 May, and it will be based in the newly refurbished arts centre, now known as the Atkinson, which will feature most of the main events. CAMRA will be running a small beer festival in the Cambridge Theatre Bar area; it's open to all and there is no admission charge to the bar, although there is to the concerts. The beer festival will be open throughout the jazz festival, unless the beer runs out first. You can see who's on, both in the Atkinson and around the town in the brochure here.

Jazz in other real ale venues around the town (very few this year)

Friday 
Credo in the Sandgrounder Bar, Lord Street at 8.30pm. Free.
Chameleon in the Coronation, King Street, at 9.00pm. Free.

Saturday 
Modjango in the Inn Beer Shop, Lord Street at 2.30pm. Free.
Cottonhouise Shakers in the Coronation, King St. at 9.00pm. Free.

However, if you can cope without real ale, you'll see from the brochure that there are plenty of other jazz events around the town in various places, some in the open air in the Town Hall Gardens, and the Café D'Art in Formby is hosting free events for diners. There's even a couple of free concerts on Saturday afternoon in Christ Church on Lord Street, although I doubt anything stronger than tea will be available. I'm not sufficiently familiar with jazz to comment upon the various acts that will be on, but I will be going to some of the events and working for three sessions in the beer festival in the Atkinson. Even if you don't like jazz, the beer festival is surely worth a visit!

Review of my ale and music year

Around this time of year, bloggers tend to do a review of the year. I don't feel able to speak generally about the whole country on the enormous subjects of music and ale, so I've decided to write a short review of my personal year.

Best Folk Club: Southport's Bothy, which is one of the oldest folk clubs on the country, continues to provide, within the limits of what a voluntary, non-profit making organisation can, an excellent range of guests withing the folk scene, using the broadest definition of that term. Traditional singers, singer-songwriters, old established favourites and rising young stars make up the guest nights. In between guest nights, there are singers nights when anyone can get up to play a couple of songs and tunes: the quality of singers nights is such that some people prefer them to the guest nights. The format hasn't altered since the club was founded in 1965, and it has clearly passed the test of time.

Favourite pub: this has to be the Guest House in Union Street, Southport. Despite being a pubco tenancy, Gail the licensee consistently has up to 11 real ales on, which usually constitute a mixture of microbrewery offerings alongside more familiar regionals. This does mean that occasionally the selection is not especially exciting for lovers of microbrewery beers, but generally I'm more than happy with what's on offer; I don't know of any tenancy that can provide such a range. The pub itself is just over 100 years old, largely unaltered with wood-panelled walls and it hosts acoustic music nights on the first and third Mondays of each month.

Favourite pub in Liverpool is harder: the Ship and Mitre on Dale Street has an excellent range but suffers from a ill-judged 1960s refurbishment, while the Lion on Moorfields also has a good range and is an attractive mini-gin palace as well. The former pub hosts the Woody Guthrie Folk Club (last Thursday of the month), while the latter has my acoustic song session on the 2nd Thursday of the month.

Favourite beers: around the 4% mark, I'd mention Southport Golden Sands (4.0%) and Liverpool Organic 24 Carat Gold (4.2%). My favourite strong beer has to be Liverpool Organic Shipwreck, a 6.5% IPA. Honourable mentions go to two Wigan breweries: Prospect for consistently good beer and Allgates for its significant improvement. The formerly good Cains of Liverpool continues to be disappointing.

Best Beer Festival: for my money, the Wigan Beer Festival. Although it's in a sports hall with less atmosphere than the now redeveloped Wigan Pier venue, it makes up in so many other ways: much more extensive and interesting range of beers than before, ample seating for all, regular courtesy bus between the festival and the town centre, and it's friendly to boot. To any who still miss the old venue: the festival was outgrowing Wigan Pier even before it moved, and would have no chance of fitting in there now even if it were available. The National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester and the Southport Beer Festival also worth visiting.

Favourite Music Festival: this has to be Whitby Folk Week. I've been going since 1988 (with one year missed since). The setting of a beautiful old fishing town is unique with a good range of guests and events in various venues across the town, pub sessions for songs and tunes all over the town, frequent folk dancing in the streets, plus for me the annual Lunchtime Legends gig in the Elsinore, which has been a fixture of the folk week fringe since 1992. Also extremely good was Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival, which had a completely different character: a big stage in a field with a succession of acts invited by Fairport throughout the weekend. Their big-name guests this year included Squeeze, Joan Armatrading, Bellowhead, Richard Thompson, The Saw Doctors, Dennis Locorriere, Big Country, Ashley Hutchings Morris On, and Richard Digance, plus a load of newer artists, most of whom I hadn't heard of but who were all pretty good.

Best non-folk gig: rock band Karnataka whom I saw in St Helens. Hint of progressive and hint of Goth, but mainly themselves. If you recall All About Eve, Karnataka are vaguely in that style. A seasoned band with good material and a lead singer, Hayley Griffiths, who has a beautiful voice.

Biggest disappointment of the year: being put on tablets in April for four weeks with no drinking for a month. During this period, I went to stay with my friend Geoff in London, but the expected pub crawls didn't materialise and the trip to Fullers Brewery was interesting but lost something with me on the wagon. I also opted out of a Wigan beer festival helpers' trip to Ulverston Brewery during this period, and I cut short my attendance at a friend's stag night once I'd had my fill of pub coffee.

Best apocalypse: 21 December, which was when the Mayans had supposedly foretold our doom.

Favourite blog: after this one? Too close to call!

All the best for 2013!

The Mathew Street Festival

Over the Bank Holiday weekend (26 – 27 August), the streets of Liverpool will be packed out for the Mathew Street Festival. This free two-day event is 20 years old this year, with over 80 hours of live outdoor music provided by cover, original and new bands, attracting both locals and guests from all over Europe. Five outdoor stages provide live music from midday until 6.00 p.m. More than 95 bands will be performing from as far as USA, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Switzerland, Russia, Sweden and Scotland.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Beatles in their best-known incarnation, there will be a tribute to Liverpool’s most famous band: the second day has been renamed Merseybeat Monday, celebrating all things Beatles and Beatles-influenced. Two stages will be dedicated to the Fab Four, as that week marks 50 years since Ringo joined John, Paul and George (and since Pete Best was ousted, which even now some Beatles fans haven't forgiven the three other Beatles for). A selection of tracks from every Beatles album will be performed.

The festival is always good fun with a great atmosphere. My write up of the 2010 event can be found here. Being Liverpool, there is no shortage of great pubs in the area as well.

Peace & Ecology Festival, Liverpool

This free festival organised by Merseyside CND takes place this Saturday 21 July in St Brides Church, between Catharine Street and Percy Street, Liverpool 8, near the Anglican Cathedral. I've got a 30-minute spot from around 4.50 p.m. No real ale, I'm afraid, although there was wine last year. There are some good pubs not too far away in the Georgian Quarter pub crawl here, one or two of which I'll doubtless be visiting. You can click on the poster to enlarge it.

Formby Live

I've only just heard about Formby Live, a music festival in various venues in Formby this week. Their website says: "Formby's very own music festival, is now in it's 4th year and will be bigger and better than ever before!  With the main events taking place over the weekend of 6th to 8th July, there will be performances from national, and local artists in venues throughout the Village culminating in a full day of music. On Sunday, 8th of July, there will be a full programme of great entertainment at Formby Pool where The Merseycats will again be putting on a Rock 'n' Roll extravaganza throughout the day".

Funny how something can be planned so close to home, and yet not hear about it.

Whitby Folk Week 2011

My housemates, Alan and Rose, enjoying
a drink at Scalby Mill, Scarborough

I got home yesterday from my annual visit to Whitby Folk Week; we had a great time as usual. Our annual Lunchtime Legends gig in the Elsinore on Flowergate, our 20th in this venue, went down well; it was so hot in this small pub that after our 34-song set, I looked as though someone had poured a bucket of water over me. It was good to have Jez Lowe joining us again on bass, and the great Pete Coe opened for us with a very dirty-sounding distorted guitar, singing songs like I Hear You Knocking, I Fought The Law (And the Law Won) and the Kinks’ song Superman. Although we had no new recordings, we sold 4 CDs - and even 3 cassettes, believe it or not. Candy Rell’s rendition of the Dusty Springfield classic, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, got the whole pub singing. Hi Ho Silver Lining and Your Sixteen finished our set as always; the one time we did Hi Ho half way through, they wouldn't let us go until we played it again at the end!

Boggart's Breakfast dancing in Whitby

The following day, with my voice already slightly hoarse, I ended up doing another couple of hours in The Station pub, which was also good fun. The Station has some good varied song and music sessions during folk week, while the Elsinore is a magnet each evening for accordion-driven tune playing. The standard of performance of many of the music session performers, who play just for pleasure, can be very high, attracting appreciative crowds of drinkers who are happy to stand and watch. In particular, I saw a group of young female fiddle players in the Station performing with obvious energy and enthusiasm.

Whitby wouldn’t be the same without the dancers who performed regularly every day in the streets of Whitby, bringing the festival, like the pub session players, to ordinary holiday makers and residents of the town.

Music session in The Station
(Steve on the left looks shocked!)

Looking back at last year’s pub crawl, not much has changed, except that the steak and ale pie in the Duke of York disappointingly wasn’t as good. Also, £3-20 seemed to be the standard Whitby price for real ale (50 to 70p more than I’m used to paying, and about 14% up on last year, unlike my income!), except in the Elsinore where the Cameron’s Strongarm was £2-90, and the Jolly Sailors, which sold Sam Smith’s Old Brewery Bitter for an amazing £1-61. Perhaps not wonderful, but I find it a perfectly acceptable standard bitter. My favourite beer of the week was Ossett Silver King in the Station; once when it went off temporarily, I had a Directors, which was surprisingly rather good. 

Persephone dancing at Whitby



Overall, Whitby is good place for pubs and brilliant during folk week for very varied live music too.

Only 51 weeks until the next one.



Whitby from Church Street. The 102 year old swing bridge is in the distance

Home again

I've just got home from Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival; it was excellent.  As well as Fairport Convention (of course, as it's their festival), there were the Home Service, UB40, The Coral, Horslips, The Shee, Hayseed Dixie (with a bluegrass rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody!), Seasick Steve, and others.  All were good in varying degrees.  After Fairport, I think I enjoyed the Home Service best.  Wadworth's beers were on, in surprisingly good condition considering the bar was in a field:  6X, a golden beer, and a 5% named after Fairport, which ran out first

I'll be going out shortly clutching my guitar to the singaround at the Bothy Folk Club (Park Golf Club, Park Road West) to sing songs and drink Thwaites Wainwright.  Tomorrow night is the music session in the Guest House in Union Street, and on Wednesday it's the singaround in the Mason's on Anchor Street.  All free and all in real ale venues.

Southport Jazz Festival - real ale venues

I've looked through the Jazz Festival programme and here are the the events taking place in real ale venues - much better than last year, when there were just two.  Please note that the Scarisbrick Hotel has real ale in the Baron's Bar only, and not in the rooms being used by the jazz festival.  You'll find the full programme here (click on 'downloads').  There are plenty of other events at venues without real ale, many free, including some at Lord Street's bandstand, which might be nice if the weather's good.  Please take any inaccuracies up with the venue, the council, the prime minister or the pope - in fact, anyone but me.

u WED 25 MAY

Des Hopkins Original Jazz Band

The Shrimper, Fylde Road

9.00 pm. £4 raffle donation.

u THU 26 MAY
Nicola Farnon & her Music
Barker Suite, Scarisbrick Hotel, Lord Street
8.00 pm. £8-50.

u FRI 27 MAY
Malcolm Hogarth Trio
Barker Suite, Scarisbrick Hotel, Lord Street
12.30. Free.

Frank Garner (jazz pianist)
Knight’s Cocktail Bar, Scarisbrick Hotel, Lord Street
8.30 pm. Free for drinkers.

Des Hopkins Original Jazz Band
The Coronation, King Street
9.00 pm. Free for drinkers.

u SAT 28 MAY

The John Hallam Trio with Vinny Parker

Barker Suite, Scarisbrick Hotel, Lord Street

12.30. Free.

Marley Chingus

The Fishermen’s Rest, Weld Road

8.00 pm. Free.

Frank Garner (jazz pianist)

Knight’s Cocktail Bar, Scarisbrick Hotel, Lord Street

8.30 pm. Free for drinkers.

u SUN 29 MAY

Modjango

The Inn Beer Shop, 657 Lord Street.
2.30 pm. Free.

Brady and Shaw
The Fishermen’s Rest, Weld Road
8.00 pm. Free.

Liverpool Working Class Life & Music Festival

The Working Class Life & Music Festival in Liverpool begins next weekend.  The new band I'm in, Black Lamp, will be doing a short spot at the Liverpool Socialist Singers' concert in St Brides Church, Percy Street/Catherine Street, Liverpool 8, on Wednesday 27th April. 

The festival has been organised by radical Liverpool singer-songwriter, Alun Parry ~ click here for the full festival programme.  Here are just some of the events taking place:

Fri 22nd – folk legend Leon Rosselson with support from Rich Mans Ruin, National Museums 800 Lives Exhibition at Radio Merseyside, Another Day In Liverpool photo exhibition

Sat 23rd – Almanac’s Radical City night at The Everyman Theatre, award winning actor Tayo Aluko’s new show From Africa To The White House, Ken Loach’s Navigators at The Casa featuring two of the actors in a Q&A, Kaya’s Under The Influence, The Suitcase Ensemble’s Railway Cabaret, Liverpool Music Barcamp for DIY musicians, The Leaving Of Liverpool at The Maritime Museum, AFC Liverpool v Eccleshall football match, Liverpool Socialist Singers flashmob workshop, and Metal’s Edge Hill Archive Exhibition.

Sun 24th – A Night of Musical Comedy featuring award winning duo Jollyboat, Rathole Roadshow at The Zanzibar, Saturday Night Sunday Morning special screening at Crosby Plaza cinema, biographer Dave Harker on writer Robert Tressell, political historian Ron Noon on the 1911 Transport Strike

Mon 25th – Great Stories’ charming social documentary My Fifties Liverpool at FACT, Radical Rogues and Reformers Irish Heritage Walking Tour, Liverpool Socialist Singers workshop and fete, Philosophy in Pubs at The Crown host the first in a range of specially themed discussions, Mouth of the Mersey’s Storytelling Club tell some working class tales at Studio 2.

Tue 26th – Acoustic Night at the Unity, The Radical Route Walking Tour of Liverpool’s history as a city of protest, more musings from the Philosophy in Pubs gang at Keith’s Wine Bar and The Victoria Hotel

Wed 27th – Radio 4 poet Luke Wright at The Unity, Liverpool Socialist Singers in concert with Vinny T Spen, Claire Mooney and Black Lamp, MESH Culture’s Cool Kids at Tabac, Traditional Irish Ceilidh at St Michael’s Irish Centre

Thu 28th – folk legend Roy Bailey at the Woody Guthrie Folk Club supported by local folk songwriter Alun Parry, more from Philosophy in Pubs at the Half Way House and The Vernon Arms.

Fri 29th – Michael Weston King at Liverpool Philharmonic, a community forum on art, culture and class at The Tate, a lecture on Robert Tressell by Stuart Borthwick, a traditional Irish music session at St. Michael’s Irish Centre

Sat 30th – Scottish folk star Dick Gaughan at the Liverpool Philharmonic, Rub A Dub Dub reggae night featuring We The Undersigned, News From Nowhere’s 37th Birthday Party.

Final Four Fools Folk Festival

Regulars of the local Four Fools Festival will be disappointed that this year’s festival, the 23rd, will also be the last, as the organisers are retiring to the Yorkshire coast. It will take place over the weekend of 24 to 26 June 2011.  Strangely enough, the organisers forgot to say in the info they've e-mailed to me where this festival takes place ~ I'm assuming it's in or near the Crown at Worthington in Standish.

This year’s guests include: Pete Coe, Roy Harris, Peta Webb and Ken Hall, Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, His Worship and the Pig, Dave Fletcher and Bill Whaley, Barrie and Ingrid Temple, Ken Wilson, Graham O’Callaghan, Mark Dowding, Sid Calderbank, Jim Mageean, John Morris, Peter and Barbara Snape.

Weekend tickets are available now at £20.  Camping (for weekend ticket holders only) can be booked through the festival, and is £5.50 per night for campers and caravans and £4 per night for tents. Make cheques payable to "Foolish Friends" and send to Angie and Ken Bladen, 36 The Oaks, Eaves Green, Chorley, Lancashire, PR7 3QU.

A website is due to be set up soon. In the meanwhile, for more information, either e-mail or phone 01257 263678.

Liverpool Folk and Roots Festival

I've only just heard about the Liverpool Folk and Roots Festival, described as "a celebration of the history, social significance and abiding presence of folk music in Liverpool". Yes, folk music in Liverpool is more than just In My Liverpool Home and Maggie May. The festival runs from 13th to 20th November in several venues, and includes an Irish music night, Chris Wood, Songs of the Sea, an Americana night, and much more. Some interesting nights there.

Full details and tickets are on the festival website. Obviously quite a lot of work has gone into organising this, so I'm surprised I've not heard about it before today. Still, better late than never.

The Mathew Street Festival

Bank Holiday Monday saw me in Liverpool for the 18th Mathew Street Festival with my friends, Steve & Sharon. This festival just gets bigger every year: the city centre is blocked off and large stages erected across them. You're allowed to take your beer into the streets (in plastic glasses) so you can watch the performances suitably refreshed. The streets were packed out, as were the pubs, and the weather was beautiful.

Water Street

Tribute bands are not everyone's cup of tea - not mine when they're rubbish - but there was something about hearing Clube Big Beatles, who are from Brazil, playing the entire White Album all the way through, although I only heard the second disc and the end of the first. It was lovely seeing a tiny girl on her dad's shoulders punching the air with both hands to Helter Skelter. We also heard another band play Help! right through. Apparently every Beatles album was played in its entirety at some point in the festival.

To another stage, and we watched a set by the Small Fakers followed by the Kinx. Again tribute bands, but it was good to hear these great songs live. The Kinx set particularly turned into a community singalong with nearly everyone in an entire city street joining in, including to my surprise many young people, clearly born decades after these songs were in the hit parade. 

There was loads more to this festival than I saw, and it's not all tribute acts ~ Billy J Kramer played on the Sunday, and Boomtown Rats made an appearance too.

The beer:

We met in the Lion pub in Moorfields and took our pints of Liverpool Organic 24 Carat Gold and a half of Deuchars IPA in Sharon's case to watch the White Album being played. After that we went back into the Lion and refilled with JW Lees Bitter to drink while watching Help!

Ye Hole In Ye Wall provided Steve and me with, respectively, St Austell Tribute and Palmers Bitter, which we took to watch the Small Fakers and Kinx.

After it was over, we went to the Globe in Cases Street, which was packed the rafters, with most of the punters singing on the top note to the CD player: Beatles numbers (of course) but also some even older, such as Happy Days and Lonely Nights and a few George Formby songs. I had Keltek Gold and Steve was on Black Sheep - Sharon was on 55 Orange by this point. The Globe is a wonderful pub, but as Steve said it's good points can be its downfall if you are being crushed against the bar or find it hard to follow a conversation. But it's a very good-natured clientele in there, always friendly and ready to chat. Not for nothing is it Steve's favourite pub.

Sharon had to catch a train, after which Steve and I ended up in the Dispensary, Liverpool CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year, on Renshaw Street. The Brimstage Scarecrow and Fernandez Ale to the Tsar were both in very good nick.

An enjoyable day, even though I missed the train I'd intended to catch and didn't make last orders in Southport.

Whitby pub crawl ~ 24th August

On the Tuesday of Folk Week, Jean organises her annual Whitby pub crawl and invites us along ~ she's good that way. There are many fine pubs in Whitby, considering the size of the town, and we can't visit all of them. The pub crawl covers most of the best real ale pubs.

Beginning on the West Side:

The Elsinore, Flowergate

A very friendly local, which a couple of hundred years ago was the first building you came to when entering Whitby. It is a popular Folk Week fringe venue for various folk musicians, was the first pub to welcome Goths during their weekends in the town and also lets the Lunchtime Legends play during Folk Week (see previous posting). It's slightly cheaper than most pubs, and serves Cameron Strongarm, Tetley Bitter and John Smiths Cask.

The Little Angel, Flowergate

The Little Angel

Just across the road is this cosy-looking local, which is however rather bigger than the outside suggests and has three drinking areas. Just outside is a worn old mounting block for people to get on their horses. When we visited it was serving Adnams Bitter and Tetley Bitter.

The Station Inn, New Quay Road

Situated near the railway station and opposite the harbour, this pub has had several names previously: the Tap & Spile, the Cutty Sark, but originally the Green Man. It has three separate rooms, sometimes each with a different music session during folk week. It serves eight real ales and a real cider (Weston's Old Rosie). The beers included Ringwood Boondoggle, Whitby Old Dog, Timothy Taylor's Golden Best and Old Hooky.

Across the swing bridge to the East Side:

Black Horse, Church Street

The Black Horse

This is an extremely small, traditional, two-roomed pub. A pub since the 16th century, it has also been used as a funeral directors, spirit warehouse, and brothel. It is frequently packed during folk week; the musicians and singers tend to meet in the rear room. Both rooms have a real ale bar, with 3 beers on.  The beer I had on the crawl was Whitby Rhatas.

The Duke of York, Church Street

The Duke of York (centre front)
with the 199 steps and
Whitby Abbey behind

This pub is full of character and has wonderful views over the harbour. It is at the foot of the 199 steps that lead to Whitby Abbey and St Mary's Church (both worth a visit).  The pub does good food, especially the steak and ale pie, so if you're lucky enough to get a window seat while eating your dinner, then it's very enjoyable.  Tables can be scarce at peak meal times.  The beers on offer included Copper Dragon, and Courage Directors.

The Shambles, Market Place
This large open plan pub with a central bar was once a Burberry factory until it was closed and production moved elsewhere. It has wonderful views over the harbour, serves food which I've been told is good, has a family room and a games room with a snooker table. The beers are mainly from Theakstons and the Copper Dragon range, including the IPA.

Endeavour, Church Street
A single-roomed pub with, during folk week, a constantly changing range of real ales (4 handpumps). It has singers and musicians all day and evening during folk week and I understand it also has music quite regularly at other times. The various beers I had there included Adnams Broadside, Ringwood Boondoggle. Close to a chip shop if you need it.

Middle Earth Tavern, Church Street
The furthest pub on the crawl, the Middle Earth has outside seating with good views over the harbour.  Popular for music sessions during folk week, when it can get packed, it nowadays serves only one real ale, which was from the Copper Dragon range when I was there.

I had to take back two pints during the entire week, none on the pub crawl, but as they were satisfactorily replaced, I see no reason to name the pubs concerned. I found beer in Whitby was well-kept for the most part. This crawl was undertaken in August at the height of the holiday season. Beer ranges will probably be more limited off season, but I've been to Whitby at quieter times and the pubs are generally still good.

Liverpool Pride Acoustic Line-Up

I've just learned that the Organisers of Liverpool Pride have announced the line up to play the Acoustic Stage at Liverpool’s first ever Pride Festival, which takes place in and around the Dale Street area of Liverpool on Saturday 7th August. Ian McNabb, former leader and main songwriter in the Icicle Works, will be headlining a very full line-up.  You'll find a lot more detail here.

If you combine the festival with a pub crawl, there are plenty of great pubs in the area, some of which are listed in my Dale Street pub crawl; I think you can expect them to be busy on the day.

And before anyone asks the predictable question: no, you don't have to LGBT.