Philharmonic Dining Rooms, Liverpool, September 2017 #1

After I heard about this place from a friend who had visited it last night, I knew I had to come and check it out for two reasons.

1) They said that there was some good beer on. I’ll get to that bit in a minute.
2) It’s a lovely old building with in an interesting history. There’s no denying that.

It was built at the turn of the 19th century for Robert Cain of Cains Brewery, and is now a Grade II listed building, probably the most ornately decorated pub in the city, both inside and out.

Let’s have a beer and take a very short tour around. The first beer was Summer Legend Easy IPA, a session IPA from across the border in Clackmannanshire. A standard pale ale, but not an IPA or even a session IPA. Not the most glamorous of shots of a beer, the lovely detail of the bin in the background rather draws the eye away.

Let’s have a quick look round inside. Again, not the greatest photos I’ve ever taken, because I just had my phone on me and was more interested in chatting with friends. Ornate flooring, lovely wood panelling, stained glass and chandeliers are not your usual pub decor. That’s not the best bit.

This is the most ornate pub toilet I have ever visited. I’m not in the habit of taking photos of toilets, but I think you’ll agree that this is worth taking a photo of.

Tonight finished with Dark Vader, a red ale that’s not very dark, but has a malty sweetness. Not exactly finishing the evening with a flourish, but the impressiveness of this pub does rather make up for that. A great place to have a drink with friends. There are even two side rooms called Brahms and Liszt. I did have to explain this joke to a Canadian who was not familiar with the intricacies of Cockney rhyming slang.

What a cracking pub. I have a feeling that I’ll be back quite soon.