July 2023. Liverpool.
I reckon we’d been to Liverpool at least annually over the last 30 years but I couldn’t ever remember staying in the centre*. Is that possible ? I’d even stayed 3 miles out beyond Bootle and walked in recently.
Chris Dyson’s post on Dale Street pubs the other week had prompted me to explore the possibility of an overnighter and a £40.50 windowless Z hotel (I think Mrs RM’s large glass of Shiraz cost more) saw us ideally placed for the evening.
Sadly Mrs RM wasn’t up to walking through the Mersey tunnel to Wallasey, so we did the classic route down to the port, spotting the iconic “liverbird” en-route.
Interestingly, all the pubs that Monday night were doing decent trade, but Albert Dock itself was relatively quiet.
Presumably everyone was on the ferry to Douglas for cheaper Okell’s Bitter, or mourning the departure of Jordan Henderson in Jurgen’s.
Liverpool has recently lost its UNESCO World Heritage status due to these beautiful new buildings but UNESCO sounds to me like a brand of powdered milkshake and what would they know about beauty ?
I remembered the wedged wonder that is the Baltic Fleet as a beauty from 20 years ago when they brewed their own beer.
Don’t worry, folks, all that homebrew nonsense is in the past now, and you’ve got beers you’ve you might have heard of. When near the Mersey, stick to Trapper’s Hat (a clean and well presented NBSS 3).
Mrs RM had shot off in direction unknown, and it took me ages to track her down, despite the compactness of the place.
The Baltic was busier, and with a younger crowd than I remember,
presumably enticed by the Arctic Monkeys soundtrack rather than the cask.
Mrs RM loved it; I thought it seemed a little less lived-in, and a little less loveable.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but Pub Curmudgeon cut to the chase,
and I couldn’t quite disagree with him.
I’m sure he’s more impressed with the shopping facilities at Liverpool ONE, mind.
*Possibly a Formula 1 just south of the Baltic 25 years ago, though only a brave man would consider thos Formula 1 places a hotel
retiredmartin 
Too bad because the exterior sure is beautiful.
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It’s ok. Just not as startlingly good as you and I remember it.
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Kind of interesting. Chris Dyson just wrote this one up too.
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So he has. We have very similar opinions on the pubs and beer quality in Liverpool by the look of it !
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Visited the Baltic Fleet in 2010, whilst en route to the IOM for that famous CAMRA AGM – the one overshadowed, if that’s the right word, by the Icelandic volcano that blew its stack.
Beer, food and atmosphere were all good, but that was 13 years ago.
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Yes, the food was legendary about then, Paul
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They dont do food at all anymore, or at least they werent earlier in the year when I visited.
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Which reminds me Paul, we haven’t had any of this for a while
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We were there last in 2018 but can’t disagree with your and Peter’s assessment, sadly. Wanted to like it but didn’t!
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I visited it in 2016 when the CAMRA AGM was held in Liverpool, and if Id ever got around to actually finishing writing up that adventure, this blogging lark is harder than people realise, Id have said it was the best pub we visited that weekend, even above such Liverpool pub royalty as The Roscoe Head. Because their cask beer was excellent, they had a great selection, the place even on a Sunday afternoon had alot of good friendliness of atmosphere, craic and the food was great, the best Scouse I had that weekend.
So it was without hestitation top of my list to revisit, when I found myself in Liverpool again at the end of March of this year, to say I was midly disappointed by it, would be an understatement.
It sounds weird to say a pub that still sells a reasonable variety of beer to reasonable quality has completely changed and is somehow bad because of it, but it had, it felt a completely different venue, the friendliness/homeliness of the place had gone completely, they no longer served any food, half the building was blocked off due to building works on a function room, although the beer was ok it was mostly keg not cask based availability, not that most of the few clientele they had, it was near empty, were trying it anyway settling for whatever standard draft lagers or ciders they had instead.
I stayed for a couple almost wishing the place would magically improve if I stayed longer, but it didnt work, and it wont be top of my list to revisit if I ever visit that part of the country again.
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There you go, other folk have said it all for me about the Baltic.
My few notes (it was the 5th pub of the evening) say that Brimstage pint was “clean. Actually exemplar” but I still only gave it an NBSS 3, and like the pub I couldn’t actually tell you what was lacking but it was.
I notice the first line of the What Pub review is now “Card only”.
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Perhaps this is an age thing, but I went last August and liked it! It was busy, the beer was good. Wasn’t the #1 pub from that visit, but then the competition is high in Liverpool.
I had never been before, so no previous memories or pre-conceptions.
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William, I take it that there were no barstool loudmouth bigots, intimidating those of kinder, gentler political and social views into silence, with an implied threat of violence, then?
That, to some people, is, apparently a bad thing, reducing a pub’s credentials as a “Proper” Pub.
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Blimey, that escalated quickly!
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I think the lack of memories helps, William.
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Often the case!
We found it to be a good atmosphere when we visited; I’m sorry to hear that hasn’t been everyone’s experience.
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The thing is, William, I’m now determined to give it another go !
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“I couldn’t ever remember staying in the centre*. Is that possible ?”
I’ve had seven nights at the Youth Hostel practically next door so am more familiar wit the Baltic Fleet than most Liverpool pubs.
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