Our Day Out to Chester

Working in a university library is hardly stressful but it is always nice to have a day off work and go somewhere different. I feel nothing but contempt for most of my colleagues but there are some who I will willingly spend time with outside of work. So last week, my Louise-Brooks-bobbed colleague Clare and I went for a day trip to Chester.

The original plan was to do a 6 miles walk in West Lancashire calling in at a few pubs. On reflection however I recalled that a couple of the pubs are closed which could leave us with a fair distance to walk without beer or the sort of facilities one needs after beer. In a flash of brilliance I decided to go to Chester, just 40 minutes away on the train and with some of my favourite canal in England.

So on a Wednesday, one that the Met Office said would be the only cloudy day of the week, we arrived in Chester. It's a short walk from Chester station down City Road to the canal. On the bridge I pointed out a few of the local points of interest to my companion: the lead shot tower, the water tower, the canal itself and the mills and warehouses. And of course the first pub: Old Harkers Arms. I have been here once before with towpathtreks' Irish pub reviewer, on race day as I recall and the place was packed with be-suited Scousers getting ready for a day of drinking and obnoxiousness. On this latest occasion though we almost had the place to ourselves. It was half twelve and I wasnt sure what I fancied to drink. We were going to have food so we thought it best to have a bottle of dry white wine, South African I think it was. I am the sort of person who judges wine on its alcohol content and price. Preferably the former is high and the later is low. But the Old Hawkers Arms is a nice place for nice people so I had to act civilized. We were drawn to the end of the pub with the bookshelves. Surprisingly enough although I work in a library I dont see that much of the bookshelves, but we felt at home here. The Hawkers Arms really is nice. Its a big room without feeling like a barn. Its nice and light, you can see boats going past on the canal. There is plenty of decoration but nothing too distracting. And the staff were very nice too. We had lunch, fish finger sandwich and prawn sandwiches, with chips. All very nice. Even the toilets are nice. I could have stayed there drinking all day but I would have probably let myself and my colleague down and done or said something that would preclude me coming back, and I would like to go back.

Outside the weather was improving. The white cloud had patches of blue and it was warm. We walked towards the city centre along the towpath. I past by the Canalside Bar which last time I had walked straight out of. Maybe next time. We past the Frog and Nightingale too. I dont think I will go back there again. Not unless I want to get shitfaced on Fosters with like-minded people.

Under the city walls, in the deep rock cutting, below the Northgate and Bridge of Sighs is a very good place to be. It has the history, the canal, that feeling of peace and seclusion you get on canals even when they are a stones throw from busy roads and towns. We wandered along looking at the sandstone and the ducklings. The ducks were swimming against the current, there were boats locking down the Northgate staircase. Past the locks we walked around the basin stopping to look at the big iron hook for horse drawn boats and the graving lock and dry dock. There are some gorgeous new flats being built. You can tell they are gorgeous because of the big signs saying so on the side.

We arrived at our destination, Telford's Warehouse. This, as the name suggests, is a former warehouse which was built by Thomas Telford in the 1790s. For whatever reason I have never been inside this pub. I know it as a music venue and assumed that during the day it would be empty or shut. But there were people sat outside on the picnic tables and the sun was shining brightly on them. Inside the decor was not what I had imagined, although I dont know what I had imagined it would be like. I liked it, it is sort of modern trendy old fashioned. There is a pretty impressive range of beers on tap, but as it was so sunny I went for a nice cold lager. Ice Cold in Alex. It almost seemed a shame to leave the nice pub but we went and sat outside and enjoyed the sun. A couple of boats went past and some locals were fishing and enjoying some Stella. Much better than being in work.

After our drinks we walked up to the city walls and around to the River Dee. On the way we were engulfed in a tour group from Italy or Germany or some such continental place. Chester is very popular with tourists. Interestingly my colleague was more excited by an old 1980s TSB logo than the mock Tudor or Roman remains. There are also some hideous concrete buildings from the 1970s in Chester. The council must have been desperate for any investment then to allow them to built that stuff.

At the river we got ice creams and went on a boat trip up the Dee. Sadly we were on the Mark Twain not the Lady Diana but it was very nice and I got to see bits of Chester I hadn't seen before. The taped commentary was good, and the boat houses by the river are very swanky.

After the boat ride we went for food and drink (O'Kells) in the Bear and Billet, a favourite of mine. It seems to be popular with the tourists too, some Japanese or Chinese tourists were stood across the road taking photos of the pub. After eating we had one last drink (Spitting Feathers) in the Brewery Tap. The pub is in an old hall parts of which date back to the early 1500s. The main room has some impressive features as did the rather nice barmaid. If you like your real ale and appreciate an old building then this is the place for you.

We walked back to the canal, passing the Frog and Nightingale which was now very loud and busy outside. Soon we were back in Liverpool tired from the fresh air and sunshine. And the booze.

It was a really nice day, the weather was unexpectedly lovely and my colleague was the perfect person to skive off work with in Chester.

Chester Pub Reviews

Walking to the station in Liverpool I couldn't help but notice the number of scousers in suits. Women in Liverpool may be infamous for going to The Asda in their pyjamas but today they were out in their full WAG-a-like outfits. At the station it became obvious that it was race day in Chester. Oh dear. This was a bad day to get the train to Chester to visit the pubs. The train was packed with hilarious comedians, footballers wives and make-up that would have been a bit much at one of those American beauty pageants for 4 year olds. Finally the hot train arrived at Chester and the horde disgorged onto the platform. Luckily the races started at half two so they soon tottered off to the racetrack leaving the first pub suddenly much quieter.

The first stop for me and Kate (the still unpaid but official towpathtreks beer reviewer) was the Old Harkers Arms. This bar is in the basement of a large former warehouse. At canal level on the towpath side by City Road it was once a canal chandlers run by Mr Hawker.  The pub is fairly big and the decor is nice, we sat next to the wall of book shelves. 

There is a good selection of wines, spirits and beers. We had the Old Bear Goldilocks and Weetwood Ales Cheshire Cat. Both were fine but neither were particularly memorable. 

The Old Hawkers Arms has an impressive menu, plenty on there from 'Feta, potato and spinach filo pie with ratatouille' to 'Pan fried pigeon with beetroot and orange salad with blackberry dressing'. Regrettably we decided not to eat there and moved on to the next pub. 

Actually the next pub is just the other side of the bridge, the Canalside bar. We walked in, it was empty and had a lot of red walls and black furniture. We turned around and walked out and headed to the next bar along the canal.

The Mill Hotel and Spar is, unsurprisingly given its name,  a former canal-side flour mill. There is a narrow space for sitting out next to the waters edge. Unfortunately this quite nice hotel is stuck between a 1970s bridge built in the functional concrete Soviet style and a 1980's footbridge linking the hotel to a gym/pizzeria built in the 1980's bourgeois Capitalist style. Bridges aside the bar has a fair few beers on tap.


Kate had the Spitting Feathers (Special Ale I think) but its always a mistake to put something that dark in front of a daughter of Éire if it isn't Guinness.

And even then you have to be pretty confident of its quality if you want to avoid upset. I had a bitter that was named after the old mill we were sat next to. The first mouthful was quite nice, but after that it was just the usual dishwater. I dont know why I bother, I should stick with the fizzy chemical laced commercial ciders and lagers. Which is was all they had at the next pub.

The Frog and Nightingale is probably one of the better known pubs in Chester, especially with boaters. There are usually a few boats moored up along here. They had Bombadier and not much else. I had a pint of Strongbow, in your face CAMRA! The DJ was obviously missing Ibiza of the mid-90s, so like everyone else we left him to play his records in the empty pub and went outside. We had left eating a bit late so the Frog and Nightingale won by default. I have to assume the bold sign proclaiming "Fresh and Imaginative Food" is from another time long gone. The burgers we had were not very imaginative. Plenty of other people seemed to be enjoying the food and the Fosters though. This is a city centre pub and if you dont expect much you will be fine here. 

the Frog and Nightingale

With everyone escaped from the Frog's handle-less toilet cubicles, we walked along the canal through the rock cutting below the city walls. I think this is one of my favourite bits of the canal network. I certainly visit it often. At the staircase locks there was a boat locking up. We had only seen a couple of boats on the move, mostly restaurant boats but one nice narrowboat from Riddlesden. Yes, there are some narrowboats out there that I like. We left the canal and went up into town to meet a fellow librarian for a drink in Alexanders and a couple of pitchers of cocktails in another bar. The races had finished and be-suited lads and highly heeled ladies were swarming back to the station. The Falcon was shut, the Brewery Tap full, the Cross Keys has closed down, so we squeezed into the Bear and Billet for a pint of IPA. 

Then it was back to Liverpool for far too many drinks in the Ship and Mitre and then, with my weariness amazing me, branded on my feet, home to bed through the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.

It was a shame the races were on but I still had a nice time. Other than the Bear and Billet in town, the only pub I would go back to is the Old Harkers Arms. Next time I will definitely eat in there, as long as people keep clicking the adverts on www.towpathtreks.co.uk to fund these days out!