The cities of Manchester & Liverpool have a rivalry stretching back to the earliest days of the industrial revolution. As a result, Mancunians often poke fun at Liverpudlians and their city. However, joking must be put aside when it comes to the subject of Liverpool's pubs – there can be no doubt that the centre of Liverpool is awash with a great variety of excellent watering holes. So on 19^th September, rivalries were put aside as Trafford & Hulme Branch embarked on a day long sampling some of the rival city's best real ale pubs.

The dozen or so members who had joined the 11.19 from Manchester at it's various stops in the branch arrived at Lime Street station shortly after midday. For those eager for their first sample, luckily the first stop was just seconds away at The Crown Hotel. The regular Tetley Bitter was joined by Black Sheep Ale, Draught Bass and Morrissey Fox Brunette. The Draught Bass was the most popular selection – once the nation's staple “real ale”, it is now so rare that it's presence was considered quite a find – so much so that the intended “quick half” became a pint for many.

T&H at The Crown Hotel

Already behind schedule, the second stop was Cains' Dispensary on Renshaw Street. Although a relatively small pub, a full range of Cains ales was available plus three guests – Hopback Summer Lightning, Wyre Piddle Crop Slasher & Roosters YPA. With such a range on sale, no one beer stood out, although the Cains Dark Mild did score highly. An unexpected surprise was the presence of Liverpool & Districts CAMRA preparing the MerseyAle newsletter for distribution – complete with a fold out map of Liverpool Pubs as part of their local pubs week festival.

A short walk brought us to Fly In The Loaf, one of only a few pubs belonging to the Isle Of Man's O'Kells brewery. Despite the ownership, only O'Kells Bitter was available from their stable, the remaining 6 hand pumps featuring beers from independent breweries from across the country (although with a distinct Yorkshire bias with Elland Silver Lining, Saltaire Bavarian Gold & Roosters GCB all featuring. It was the latter GCB that really caught the imagination – it was rated so highly by some of the group that while some moved on to the historic Philharmonic Dining Rooms, the rest stayed on to sample more GCB.

Your correspondent was one of the latter party , but reports from The Philharmonic were positive. While beer selection wasn't up to the Fly's variety, a good range was available & quality was OK.

The two groups reconvened in Ye Cracke (pronounced “The Crack”) – a gem hidden away on nearby Rice Street. Six ales were on offer with the closest to a national name being Thwaites Bitter. After a minor issue with stale beer left in the lines overnight were overcome, beer quality was good. Stand out beers were the house ale “Summer In The Cracke” from Phoenix Brewery and the unusual “Chilli Chocolate Stout” from Blakemere which really was what it said on the clip. The quest to find an “interesting fact” about each pub visited was boosted by Ye Cracke's “War Room” - so named because it's where locals used to gather to have the news read to them during the Second World War when the blitz prevented delivery of newspapers.

As we left Rice Street, the group again split in two with some opting for one of the few pubs with food on route - The Pilgrim (imaginatively named being on Pilgrim Street). The remainder headed for the north side of the city for the second part of the tour. Thankfully, Wood Street's The Swan was on hand to break this journey. Undoubtedly a “Rock Pub” with juke box & clientèle to match, this pub is also a real ale haven. One of a very few pubs to stock the legendary Phoenix Wobbly Bob (Bobbly Wob to some) as a regular offering, a further six ales were also available. Although our own Hydes Original was included, the busman's holiday was turned down in favour of ales from Cottage, Grafton, Maulden's and the ever excellent Dark Star Hophead.

Next stop took us to the White Star on Rainford Gardens in what is deemed “The Cavern Quarter”. Being so close to the famous club, it is no surprise that this Victorian pub can lay claim to have been one of The Beatles' regular haunts, but the pub shuns the easy route of Beatles tourist haven in favour of a much wider mix of Liverpool's heritage. As it's name suggests, there is a maritime theme in parts with one room dominated by paintings of White Star line ships (including The Titanic), with another area, being devoted to boxing memorabilia and another to photos and other items supplied by pubs as far afield as Norway & The Czech Republic that have chosen to twin themselves with The White Star. Three rarely seen ales from Clitheroe's Bowland Brewery were joined by the more common Shep Neame Spitfire and a second chance to sample Draught Bass.

A short stroll down Matthew Street brought us to the second O'Kells pub of the day, Thomas Rigby's on Dale Street. Although the O'Kells bitter was joined by Dr O'Kells IPA, once again micro breweries were the order of the day with Brew Dog 77 Lager, O'Hanlon's Firefly, Saltaire Rye Smile & Warwickshire Darling Buds making up the range. Although very busy, a table was obtained giving many the opportunity to grab dinner from the menu. Although the food prices looked a little steep, the price was more than justified by large portions, quick service and excellent quality. The beers weren't bad either!!

The Lion Tavern proved the only real disappointment of the day. A CAMRA National Inventory pub, there was no doubt about the impressive surroundings but unfortunately neither the beer quality nor the disinterested bar man impressed. The Lion's pork pies were also reputed to be legendary, but had sold out by the time we arrived.

Your correspondent caught off guard!

So it was back onto Dale Street, the Vernon Arms has only been open for a few months but has already gained a reputation for both quality & range. Although the fact that the pub was showing West Ham v Liverpool FC had made us a little apprehensive about this stop on the itinerary, either common sense or good management (are these not often the same thing) meant that while the front bar was full off football fans, the back room was football free and with tables spare. Although a range of six ales mixing local breweries like Betwixt with national names was impressive, sadly beer scores were equally mixed - from very good to poor.

And so to the final pub on the tour and (in the opinion of Merseyside and District CAMRA) the best – current Pub Of The Year The Ship And Mitre. This being the 10^th (or 12^th) pub of the day, our intrepid (and slightly diminished) band of travellers were getting quite weary but a pub boasting 16 constantly changing real ales was not to be missed. Truth be told, the Ship would have been justification for the trip on it's own, but sadly we only had time for one selection from the range. There was however an added bonus for those in the group who had been vainly searching menus on route for the local speciality meat stew known as Scouse – finally success at the last port of call.

And so we left the Ship & Mitre for our return to Lime Street. Passing Cain's flagship house Dr Duncan's on route only served to remind us that there were many more fine pubs that we hadn't made it to. The Baltic Fleet, Roscoe Head, Peter Kavanagh's were just a few of the unmissable pubs that we had to miss – this time. Liverpool has been warned – we will return......