PHIL COLLINS NIGHT AT THE THOMAS RIGBY

July 2023. Liverpool.

“Meet you at the Thomas Rigby in 20 minutes” I told Mrs RM as the train passed Bootle.

Half an hour later I was queueing for a pint of Okells at the bar, with Mrs RM nowhere to be seen.

Well, it was 197 feet from the Z hotel to the pub.

Quite a typical beer range for 2023; Kirkstall, Hawkshead, Rooster, Allsops…

But I’ll always think of this as a Manx pub, even if Okells sold it to Market Town Taverns before BRAPA was born.

It’s a lovely pub, easy to take for granted, unchanged since my tick around the time the Dusanjis were restoring Cains to its rightful place in the beer world. Whatever happened to Cains ?

It’s full of frantic activity; perhaps Mrs RM is approaching ?

The courtyard is the place to be, but I know Mrs RM will want to be inside whether it’s 10 degrees or 30 outside.

In truth, the Okells is on the good side of good (3.5), and it’s hard to leave a pub in the middle of Phil Collins Night.

At least, I assume that’s what it was, as “In The Air Tonight” gives way to “Can’t Hurry Love” and “Another Day In Paradise”. You’re never far from great music in Liverpool.

The staff are great, too. The lovely barman can’t provide Mrs RM with anything dark apart from Guinness, but is keen to offer her “tasters”. We’re not barbarians.

Well, most of us.

I tell Mrs RM that the Lady of Mann, tucked away in the back of that courtyard, used to be in the GBG alongside the Rigby, and she shows no interest whatsoever.

Typical.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

9 thoughts on “PHIL COLLINS NIGHT AT THE THOMAS RIGBY”

  1. “Quite a typical beer range for 2023; Kirkstall, Hawkshead, Rooster, Allsops…”
    Except in Uttoxeter. 11am to 3pm today, six pubs, two beers Bass and Pedigree, both drinking well and selling well.
    Yet the town is passed by by so so many beer enthusiasts.

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      3. Oh dear.
        Yes, there’s no arguing with Uttoxeter “ladies”!
        My bumpy bus back was through Kingstone though I’ve not stopped off there since the Shrew was a Marston’s house.
        Black Swan, Dapple Grey, Bank House, Old Talbot, Old Star (silent), Vaults – and I couldn’t fault any of them this lunchtime. I should make a habit of it.

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      6. Buses leave Utcheter at 12.10 and 3.10 pm for the Shrew but neither ever return.
        Mrs TSM has been known to give pubmen a lift south-westwards of Utcheter. And back.

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      7. “Let me know and I’ll join you in Uttoxeter next time”.
        Probably during the autumn but I’m flexible as I just pick a town each week for my weekday out on the bus pass – July was Eccleshall, Salt and Weston, Penkridge, Uttoxeter – next week might be Stone.
        Yesterday in Utcheter seemed a long time since you and Will joined me on 3rd March, nearly five months ago.

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