Well, well. As they say in Liverpool (and possibly Cambridge).
Ten days after conspicuous failure to finish Merseyside from my Bootle base, I was back in Allerton having another go. Again I did a little circuit from the mysterious Wavertree Technology Park (they made Jurgen Klopp’s smile there), and this time it worked perfectly.
But where or what is Allerton ?
Well, it’s the posh suburb of South Liverpool where McCartney and Sadio Mane live. You’ll have heard of one of them. Costello went to College over the road in Woolton, of course.
Just like on Hollyoaks there’s lots of pavement bars, buggies, sunglasses and upmarket grazing for the partygoing Poolies.
I think I’d only grazed the edge of Allerton before, with Mossley Hill seemingly identical. You’d certainly know you’d been to adjacent Garston though.
Allerton Road is a bit busier than comfortable for outside drinking, even if it was touching 16 degrees, which is a heatwave in Lancashire.
Three Piggies sounds like a micropub but a glance at the door suggests you’re in a stripped down Brewhouse & Kitchen without the homebrew. “Alehouse + Canteen” always the giveaway on the sign.
“HIYA !”
booms the lady standing at the bar, half a mile away. She’s talking to me.
The earliest acknowledgement in a GBG entry, ever (FACT). I was almost scared off; I think the couple behind me, who got the same greeting, were traumatised.
But you can’t be too welcoming, and it compares well with the bottling the City team coach got last year, doesn’t it ?
“Will you be eating with us ?” was the inevitable next question.
You may be wondering why I didn’t have the Plum Porter. I cannot answer.
The local Red Star was stronger, more unreliable, and (of course) NOT Plum Porter. But it was a solid tasty NBSS 3 and that’s more than you get in some of the newer ‘Pool pubs.
It was also a classy dining operation, a bit like the Bistro des Amis in Skipton, and I really should have stayed for the fish finger butty/bap/cob.
But the pig theme had put me in need of a sausage roll, and I invested £1.10 in one of those from the award-winning bakers across the road contained so little pig it almost turned me vegan.
Note also the impressively named “Garage” on the right. Loads of great faded art round here, as a lovely old Carribean gent was keen to tell me as I admired the grocers sign (top).
Next step, Penny Lane. Underneath the blue suburban skies.
retiredmartin 
Love that title.
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That came to mind as I was crossing the road into Penny Lane, appropriately (!) and I had to use it, however clumsy.
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Not clumsy at all. And I have to ask, does McCartney really live there? Checking if I should have laughed or not…
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He lives above the Pizza Hut. Mike McCartney, runs the bookies next door. Paul was actually born there.
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I believe the Allerton house is the one he visited with James Corden in the video.
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I stand in awe of your Beatle knowledge.
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Your aim is still true.
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I’ve probably got hold of the wrong end of the stick here – it wouldn’t be the first time, but I thought the line “Take off your party dress”, came from Mary Jane’s Last Dance, by Tom Petty & the Heartbreaker’s.
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“Honey put on that party dress” sang Petty, she’d taken it off on Costello’s classic.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/alison-lyrics-elvis-costello.html
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Totally missed the Costello reference. (blush)
All I could think of (apart from someone disrobing) was Randy Newman’s “You Can Leave Your Hat On”. 🙂
(better known thanks to Joe Cocker)
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Better known thanks to “The Full Monty” 😉
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I wonder if when you’ve got a choice between Plum Porter and something you’re less familiar with your instinct is to give the latter a try (even if you fear it won’t be quite as good!).
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Thanks Martin. I’ll listen more carefully next time!
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My whole life is a sequence of misheard song lines, Paul !
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“As they say in Liverpool ”
Is it just me, or do other people – when they hear ‘Liverpool’ – think of either;
– Hannibal Lecter’s storage area for his dinner fixings or
– a list of bets as to who’s going to get the next transplant?
““Will you be eating with us ?” was the inevitable next question.”
I would take that to mean she’s inviting me to have join her for a meal. Am I wrong?
“Nice murky Red Star”
What! No Plum Porter?
“You may be wondering why I didn’t have the Plum Porter. I cannot answer.”
Ah.
“There’s a theme..”
A song from the White Album?
And no where in this entire post did someone take their dress off!
Cheers
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Sigh… ’tis I.
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