THE Pub Column was listening – by accident, it must be said – to one of those local late night phone-in shows last weekend when a selection of misery-moos rang to say what an eight-legged waste of money La Machine was.
After a number of options from these demented souls of how the public money could have been better spent – ranging from feeding the “Liverpool starving” (eh?) to setting up a Museum tracing the History of Trackie Bottoms (OK, I made that last one up) – under interrogation by the host DJ, it transpired that none of them had actually bothered to make the journey into town to see what a great success it really was. Mine host, not renowned for his tolerance, deservedly gave each of them the radio version of the bum’s rush.
Now the Pub Column has not been the biggest defender of the choices and standards set in this Capital of Culture Year – Rongo’s song and Jonathan Woss’s appearance getting it all off to an especially awkward start. But things have got increasingly better as the bandwagon has trundled along.
And there’s more to celebrate next week, with a host of other Culture events in which ale and pubs will play a crucial part as the city’s fortnight-long Food and Drink Festival really kicks in.
There’s lots for Pub Column regulars to enjoy, and this is just a selection of what to look out for.
Tomorrow marks the launch event of the festival at Sefton Park, which starts at 11am and ends at 4pm. Quaffers should make a bee line for the beer bar which will have a German theme including Krombacher on draught.
On Monday, there is a Real Food Real Ale Day celebration at the Everyman Bistro, in Hope Street. After filling your face, you can help to walk it off with a Famous People Pub Crawl with an initial meet at Ma Egerton’s, in Pudsey Street, or one of the CAMRA Pub Passport Guided Walk (City Centre North) that begins at the Lion Tavern, on Tithebarn Street, at 7pm. On Wednesday, there’s a Maritime Pub Walk with a meet at the Pig and Whistle, in Covent Garden.
Thursday marks a bumper bundle of activity. There’s Meet the Brewer at the Everyman Bistro, from 7.30pm, when Matt Walley, from the Spitting Feathers brewery, near Chester, will be staging a tasting of his wares, and the three-day Caldy Rugby Club beer festival starts off with a selection of 30 cask ales, five ciders and a ceilidh band called Albireo. Meanwhile, the Kaleidoscope Community Singers Choir will be performing at the Victoria and the Village Inn at Quarry Street, Woolton, while the three-day beer festival begins in the crypt at St Anthony’s church, on Scottie Road – one of the beer drinking highlights of last year. This time, there will be 40 cask beers to sample at the three evening sessions, with an extra afternoon session on Saturday.
Tickets at £5 go towards a memorial to the thousands of Irish who fled the famine, only to die in Liverpool, and whose bones lie interred beneath the church.
Finally, on Sunday, there’s the Hope Street Feast when the whole city centre thoroughfare will be sealed off for a full day of merry making which will include a farmers market and a free (!!!) real ale tasting stall, courtesy of a generous CAMRA.
Phew! Now don’t you dare say that this Culture Year has nothing to offer.
