Visit Real Ale, Real Music

New blogging territory for me this time as I headed over to Merseyside and what a great day I had in a town with some excellent pubs that were chock full of superb beer, and some lovely, welcoming people....

My visits to St Helens have been very few and far between over the years. Indeed, my previous visits had all been to the former home of the town's rugby league team, Knowsley Road, back in the days in the 1980's and early 90's when I watched Halifax RLFC regularly. My most recent visit to the ground had been in early summer 2008 for my then-boss's 40th. He was St Helens rugby-mad and had booked the executive suite at the ground for the event, which I remember principally for the fact I'd virtually completely lost my voice, my then wife getting drunker than at any other time we were together, the head of sales of the time who fancied himself as something of a nightclub crooner claiming the mic during the karaoke and destroying various songs for what seemed like an interminable period, and repeated plays of Valerie by the Zutons which has left me to this day with a visceral hatred of the song. Otherwise, it was a great night!


So what had prompted me to make a return to the town after all this time? Well, I'd read during the week that one of the town's pubs, the Turks Head, had been voted North West CAMRA Pub of the Year, and was through to the last 16 in the search for the National Pub of the Year. The town is also home to a previous National POTY, the Cricketers, with both that and the Turks Head being highlighted recently by the Daily Telegraph apparently as amongst the best pubs in the country. So clearly there was a healthy local pub scene, and with a football-free Saturday, I decided to investigate further.


St Helens is situated in Merseyside and is the administrative centre of one of the 6 metropolitan boroughs that make up the county. Traditionally though it was in South West Lancashire, growing up from a group of villages situated within four neighbouring parishes a few miles to the north of the River Mersey. But from the mid-18th century it began to grow and became a town as it developed as a centre for heavy industry, most notably glassmaking, coal mining, and chemicals, whilst other industries that flourished over the intervening years included pharmaceuticals and brewing, with the former Greenall Whitley brewery originating in the town, although they subsequently moved brewing operations to Warrington. Today, of these industries, only glassmaking remains as a major employer, and the town is best known now for the rugby league team which has had much success over the years, and now plays at the Brewdog Stadium on the edge of town. Beneath that there is a thriving amateur scene with teams like Clock Face and Bold Miners Welfare ARLFC bearing the names of the collieries from where the team was originally founded. And so, probably because of that, with a population of over 117,000, St Helens is one of the largest towns in the country which has never had a football league club, its highest place team, FC St Helens, currently playing in the North West Counties Premier Division, the 8th tier of English football.


It's not the easiest of places to get to from my bit of West Yorkshire. On a showery day, I left Halifax at 9.46, train to Manchester Victoria, picked up the train to Wigan Wallgate (which I could have caught from Brighouse, thinking about it and saved one of the changes), then walked across to Wigan North Western where a few minutes later a Liverpool-bound train arrived, and just after 12 I arrived at St Helens Central with its rather futuristic-looking station building. Now it isn't particularly central, being at the edge of the town centre and I reckoned it must be a 15-minute walk to the nearest of the three pubs featured in the 2026 CAMRA Good Beer Guide. There is a pub opposite the station, the Royal Alfred. I popped my head in and, at 10 past 12, it was already pretty full, and with only seemingly one girl working behind the bar and several people waiting to be served, I decided to give it a miss.


Welcome to St Helens

I set off walking in persistent drizzle following Google Maps but my way was blocked by a large scale development that seemed to have taken over a lot of the town centre and so I found myself wandering along a characterless low-level shopping arcade. It led on to a traditional town-centre shopping street with some familiar high street brands interspersed with the usual charity shops and places selling vapes. My enforced diversion had led me off in a different direction, so with the pub I had planned to do last now the closest one to me, I decided to do the route in reverse. I turned left and followed the road to where it met a busy road with a retail park and a supermarket straight ahead. There was Nando's to the right, and Google Maps was telling me to go on past it and follow the road until I came to the next roundabout where my first pub of the day was located a couple of streets beyond. I arrived at said roundabout, but how to get across? There was not a pelican crossing in sight and the flow of traffic was from all directions was relentless. WTF! The most direct route was the widest road to cross, so I would have to leg it at some point, but I ain't getting any younger! So I settled on a longer route, crossing three narrower roads, and got across safely in the end, but it took a while. Apparently, in a survey conducted back in 2010, St Helens was chosen as the UK's most car-friendly town, and based on this stretch of road, little has changed since then. St Helens Council, come on, think of the pedestrians, and put in a couple of crossings, or a bridge, or a subway, or all three!


That roundabout!

From there it was only a few minutes walk to the first pub of the day, down a wide and quiet side street and opposite a striking redbrick church with a tall tower. With numerous well-maintained hanging baskets adorning the attractive, painted exterior walls, the Cricketers Arms (opening image) had the look and aura of a real oasis. I walked in to a cosy and homely-feeling pub which was CAMRA National Pub of the Year in 2017, and a recent Regional Winner. It was quite busy with people sat at the bar and at tables around the room. The early stages of Liverpool - Nottingham Forest in the day's early kick off in the Premier League were playing out on a large screen in an alcove opposite the far end of the bar. A friendly girl came to take my order as a couple of guys sat at the bar shifted to give me a glimpse of what was on handpump. In the end I went to have a look at the bank at the other side of the bar - the pub offers 14 beers on cask, plus a further selection on keg - and went for a pint of Blonde Vixen, a 3.8% session pale ale hopped with Cascade and Chinook from Wigan's Wily Fox brewery. CAMRA discount was offered, saving my a little off what was already a reasonably-priced pint. I settled down at a table where there was a phone-charging machine, and gave my phone a top-up and watched the football as I enjoyed what was an excellent, well-looked after, and refreshing pint of beer (Rating 8/10).





There was a lovely, friendly atmosphere to the place, and having given myself quite a bit of time for this trip considering I only had three pubs on my to do list, I decided to go for another pint. This time I opted for a pint from the in-house Howzat Brewery, which started in 2020 round the back of the pub. My pint of Duckworth Lewis Method (maintaining the cricket theme), a 4.3% classic copper-coloured bitter, was well-balanced, full of flavour and had a dry, bitter finish, another very enjoyable pint (7.5/10). I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Cricketers, and based on this visit it is definitely one of the best pubs I have been in this year.



It was raining more heavily as I left the Cricketers. Fortunately I didn't have to re-trace my steps, and so I headed along Peter Street which was predominantly residential and very quiet in contrast to the busy roads I had encountered earlier. I came to Albion Street, turned right down it, and crossed the main road at a crossroads with traffic lights and pedestrian crossings (so they do have some in St Helens!). I then followed the road up a slight incline, and turned right when I came to Cooper Street, which was a quiet suburban street of redbrick terraced houses.



I was closing in on my next pub, and I shortly arrived at the Turks Head, which is the current North West Regional CAMRA Pub of the Year. It bears all the trappings of a former Tetley house - the name in gold letters, Tetleys' lamps over the doorways, and the Brewers Tudor that adorned manty of their pubs. Added to that there is a solid-looking redbrick construction complete with tower. This is another strong community pub like the Cricketers, and is the only pub to have been included in the Good Beer Guide since the local CAMRA branch was formed in 2008. There are rooms to either side of the central bar, one down a couple of steps, plus a further room upstairs which later this afternoon was apparently hosting a cider tasting. Again the pub was quite busy, but I managed to find a seat at the bar facing a pump clip displaying Jarl from Fyne Ales. With it being compulsory to have at least a pint of Jarl when you come across it (see also: Two by Two) there was no decision to be made here. One of the friendly girls working behind the bar took my order, with CAMRA discount being offered automatically on what was again a good-value pint. And what a good pint it was! Jarl which is a 3.8% session pale ale hopped with Citra, is clean-tasting, refreshing, and very well-balanced, and this was a great example of how good it can be (8.5/10).


A selection from the day's line-up at the Turks Head

As I drunk my beer, people kept coming and going. Some were ordering drinks, some enquiring about the cider tasting, some were ordering food which is delivered from the Turks' sister pub just across the road, the Cowley Vaults, which has its own selection of real ales, though not as many as the 14 on offer here. I was struck by how friendly every one was, and how down to earth they were. It is clearly a place of pilgrimage; Mandy behind the bar told me that a guy had popped down from Newcastle for the day recently just to visit the pub on the strength of its recent accolades. And I am sure that, like me, he would have been very impressed. With my glass of Jarl now drained, I resisted the 5.7% Splendid English IPA from Byatts Brewery in Coventry, even though I'd never tried any of their beers before, instead going for a half of Cheshire Red from Spitting Feathers which at 4.8% was no lightweight anyway. Apparently inspired by the red sandstone of Cheshire, it was well-balanced, quite fruity with a dry bitter finish (6.5/10). I was loving the atmosphere here and so when my half had gone I decided to go for another pint of Jarl, which was as good as the first. I have to say the Turks Head was another first-class pub and along with the Cricketers, it is what makes getting out and about to visit different places up and down the country so worthwhile.



I missed out on calling at the Cowley Vaults, and reckoned it would be less than ten minutes walk to the next and final Good Beer Guide pub of the visit here. So I carried on Cooper Street, turning right when I arrived at the main road, and followed that down a slight incline to the first roundabout. I walked along a road which was a mix of terraced houses, takeaways, and the striking St Mary's Lowe House Catholic Church, a Grade II listed building, which opened in 1929, and was an unusual and striking landmark with a 130 ft (40m) tower and a dome of a mixed Romanesque and Gothic style.


A couple of minutes later, I arrived at a roundabout where, off to the left was the final pub on my list, the Lamb Inn. The pub is a solid, redbrick affair, with a broad flatiron corner, and I walked into a very busy pub, with several guys suited and booted and ladies in smart dresses who seemed as if they had flocked in because they had been to/were going to a wedding. There was a lively and friendly atmosphere and the staff on the bar were doing a great job in keeping everything going. The beer choice here was less expansive than the previous two pubs I'd been to earlier, but 6 cask beers is still a pretty decent number! From the beers on offer I ordered a pint of Cheshire Cat, a 4% session blonde ale from the now long-established Weetwood Brewery in Cheshire, which I'd had in the past, and it had not been that memorable to be honest. But here it was in great condition, fruity with an underlying biscuity base, and very drinkable (7.5/10). Whilst the Lamb didn't hit the heights of the previous two pubs - which to be fair, were both exceptionally good - it was another very friendly pub with really good beer, and not to be missed.



I left the Lamb and turned right along Corporation Street and basically followed that until I was close to the station. I walked past the attractive town hall, which is situated in a pleasant square, and the Theatre Royal, which looked out over the re-development which had blocked my way when I had arrived earlier. I came to the Royal Alfred, and with about 25 minutes to go before my train, I decided to try for a quick half. It was still busy, but unlike earlier there were plenty of staff on and I got served pretty quickly with a half of White Rat, which was quite decent (Rating 6/10), and concluded the afternoon's proceedings in St Helens.




I walked back over to the station, got the lift up to the platforms, and a few minutes later I was on my way. I was going back a different way, so my first leg involved a change at Huyton, followed by another at Earlestown from where I was catching the train from Chester that went direct to Halifax. I arrived there and had about 25 minutes to wait for my train. Whether I misread the display I don't know, but I thought my train was going from Platform 2. So I calmly waited for my train, only for the tannoy to announce that "the next train to arrive at Platform 4..." was mine. Platform 4? WTF was that, I can only see 2 platforms! A journey back over the bridge to the ticket office put me right. It was down a path at the far end of Platform 2, which meant going back over the bridge and legging it to Platform 4, and with only 2 minutes to go before the train left, I didn't make it. So another hour sat waiting for a train at Earlestown, which is up there with Shipley and Retford as a recipe for confusion. It wasn't the most exciting hour I've ever spent, sat in a glorified bus shelter with very little going on, but that said, I can't say it really detracted from what had been an excellent afternoon in St Helens....


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