Women and pubs

Two discriminating women drinkers at the GBBF
Photocredit: Tom Leishman

This year sees a couple of important anniversaries. Firstly, this month is the 50th anniversary of the UK's first Women's Liberation conference which was held at Ruskin College. Secondly, it is 45 years since the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) became law. I believe these two events are connected.

The SDA had a profound effect on pubgoing, enabling changes that still resonate today. It would seem strange to a younger generation of drinkers that there were pubs that excluded female customers (but not always female staff), either from the entire building or from particular rooms.

A famous example was the Hole In The Wall, Hackins Hey, Liverpool. This pub claims to be the oldest in the city, dating from the eighteenth century, and it has an old-fashioned charm as well as good beer, but until the SDA, women were barred entirely. Even after the Act became law, they were slow to provide toilets for women who had to go to the neighbouring Saddle Inn. A CAMRA local beer guide at the time wrily described the pub as “coping manfully with the Sex Discrimination Act”.

More locally, the very fine Guest House on Union Street in Southport had one room restricted to men. The door to the room on the right was permanently shut with a sign saying, “Gentlemen only”. Out of curiosity, I entered the pub shortly after the SDA became law: the sign had been removed and the door wedged open. I don't recall seeing it shut since.

Although this is all now history, it's a fact that even today some women feel wary of going into a pub on their own, and are much less likely than men to do so. Any who do might take something, such as a book to read, to suggest that they have a specific reason for being there – and are not seeking male attention. In a way, it is a pity that such worries still exist 45 years after the SDA became law.

However, things are changing for the better with groups of women more inclined to patronise pubs than formerly and with many pubs becoming more family friendly. While this is not entirely popular with some traditionally-minded beer drinkers, CAMRA as an organisation welcomes the increasing inclusiveness of our pubs and bars.

I am conscious of the incongruity that I'm a male writing this.

► 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.

Peter Walker - a personal reflection

The Crown, Lime Street, Liverpool

I was a student at Padgate College in Warrington in the 1970s. The area at that time had three breweries: Burtonwood, Greenall and Tetley, although you wouldn't have known it because the vast majority of pubs were Greenall's. The brewery's adverts told us to, "Smile please, you're in Greenall Whitley land". They produced funny beer mats and even 'GWL' car stickers, like the 'GB' plate you use when driving abroad. I sometimes used to wonder whether they had ever caused any confusion at border checks on the continent. If only they had put as much effort into the beer as they did into the hype because, at best, Greenall's beers were mediocre.

I don't recall any Burtonwood pubs in the town, and most of the few non-Greenall pubs were Tetley. Tetley's beers were better than Greenall's but not by a great margin. Tetley had merged with Peter Walker in 1960, and in the 70s, they were still brewing the old Walker's Bitter, although they sold it under the Tetley name, which I found slightly odd seeing that most beer drinkers I knew preferred the Walker's Bitter to the Tetley's. The local CAMRA branch produced stickers for the few pubs that still sold Walker's to put in their windows, something my friends and I found very useful.

I had a sort of family connection to Walker's because my maternal grandmother had worked in Walker pubs for many years, as did her son, my Uncle Bernard. He rose to be manager of several pubs, and I can remember visiting two as a child, the Sefton Arms in Croxteth and the Victoria in Bootle. My grandmother used to be his relief manager on his day off. I remember calling into the Victoria for a pint a couple of times when I was older and working in Bootle; he was rightly proud of the quality of his beers. In later years, knowing about my involvement with CAMRA, he was pleased when I told him that he had kept an excellent pint.

At some point in the 1980s, Tetley Walker decided to relaunch the Walker brand. Some Tetley pubs were re-badged as Walker's and new beers formulated. In the process they scrapped the old Walker's recipe, which had been around 3.5%, like many beers at the time, and replaced it with Best Bitter (3.5%), Bitter (3.3%), and an even weaker mild. The beers weren't bad but I preferred the old brew. Later added to the range was a stronger Warrington Ale and a Winter Warmer, both of which I did quite like.

The 3.3% strength of the new Walker's Bitter became something of a joke in Liverpool:
Policeman: "Excuse me sir, have you been drinking?"
Driver: "Yes, officer, Walker's Bitter."
Policeman: "Very good, sir, carry on."

Walker's beers are no more, possibly disappearing around the time of the 1989 Beer Orders, but the name can still be seen on quite a few pubs in Merseyside, as shown in the photographs which I took in Liverpool yesterday.

The Vines, Lime Street, Liverpool

P.S. Since I posted this less than an hour ago, it has correctly been pointed out to me that someone is brewing a smoothflow version of Walker's Bitter, although I've no idea who or where. When saying that Walker's beers were long gone, I was thinking of the Warrington-brewed beers. Anything else would be a poor facsimile just to cash in on the name.

Ralph's Wife's bar, Banks

Ralph's Wife's bar in Banks

A friend told me about a new bar that had opened about five months ago in Banks, Ralph's Wife's, that I hadn't heard about before, so I decided to pay a visit.

The bus (Stagecoach 2 or X2) takes around 25 minutes from Lord Street, Southport, and drops you just yards away. The building was originally a bank, the logo of which is still in one window, after which it became the Village Pantry. It is just across the road from the New Fleetwood pub.

I arrived just as it had opened, and saw that it had two handpumps, one of which was serving Parker Barbarian Bitter, the other not being in use at the time. As I entered, Mal, the owner, said “You look like a real ale type”, which surprised me slightly as I don't have beard and wasn't wearing sandals! I found the beer to be on good form.

He explained that they usually had two real ales on at weekends, but sometimes during the week it needed to drop to one while custom builds up. He is aiming to have three ales available in time. Previous real ales have included: Neptune Ezili; Neptune Lorelei; Southport Golden Sands; Red Star Formby IPA; Parker Golden Samurai; and Parker Viking Blonde.

Two fonts were dispensing Hop House Lager and Guinness, and there was a fridge full of various bottles, including, Belgium, Trappist and German beers. There was a good choice of wines and the usual spirits, but with one interesting addition: among the gin selection was Forgan's, a hand-crafted gin made in Banks.

Tea and coffee are also served, including a range of speciality teas. They have held tapas nights and cheese and wine events. Children are welcome until 8.00 p.m. and dogs are admitted. There is free WiFi for customers, and he intends to offer snacks soon. One interesting feature is that the original night safe from its days as a bank is still in use.

As other customers came in, I found them to be friendly and ended up chatting to several at the bar. It is pleasantly decorated and has a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere.

Ralph's Wife's bar is at 4 Hoole Lane, Banks, Lancashire PR9 8BD; tel: 01704 214678. See their Facebook page for more information, including opening hours.

► 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.