THAT big yellow thingy is back in the sky. Is it called the sun?

May 10 2008 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

And for it to reappear on a Bank Holiday was a cause for celebration.

So it was off with the muffler and great coat and on with the shades for a trip out with Lady Penelope of Pensby at the wheel to a place Yours Truly had never been to before, Port Sunlight.

Given the conditions it was a highly appropriate destination too.

History buffs will be aware that this is a picturesque village of 900 Grade II-listed buildings purpose built by the Victorian philanthropist Lord Leverhulme to house his employees at the nearby Lever Brothers soap factory.

There’s an ethereal tranquillity about the settlement, which is also blessed with the renowned Lady Lever Art Gallery, which the good Lord stuffed with the works collected from around the globe for his flock to appreciate.

Very nice it is too.

But culturally speaking, our mission was principally centred on the Port’s one and only alehouse, the imposing Bridge Inn.

A magnificent mock Tudor manse of eaves and balconies designed in the style of an old coach house, it was initially constructed as a temperance hotel by Sunlight’s abstemious benefactor in 1900.

He obviously thought he knew what was good for his people. But he must have been miffed three years later when the populace voted for it to be licensed to sell the demon alcohol and it’s remained a boozer ever since.

It’s also an 11-room hotel and restaurant although with a major refurb throughout, it has only begun to live up to its massive potential since the recent takeover by Maria McNally and Dave Thomas, a partnership with a wealth of experience handling other Merseyside pubs.

Maria, somewhat diplomatically, said that until the makeover with new carpets and furniture was installed throughout, the Bridge was looking “a bit unloved and totally under-advertised”.

But now that summer’s nearly here, it’s the perfect place to stay or end a day out with a meal and a couple of bevvies after sauntering around the village and taking in the gallery.

The building is a mighty beast with three separate entrances each bearing a notice indicating the nature of its service: “Drinking” “Staying” and “Eating”. We, of course, chose the first one and in the large and airy lounge bar were served cracking pints of Old Speckled Hen and a wonderfully smooth pint of cask Tetleys Dark Mild by most efficient bar steward Karl McDonald, whom the Lady likened to “a tall Michael Owen”.

As she knows next to nothing about footie but is very knowledgeable about what she likes in men, it was obvious her eye was on more than the Tetleys, the naughty girl.

She’s also a big fan of TV’s Most Haunted and an adept impersonator of possessed Scouse medium Derek Acorah. Indeed, her party trick is to hold her head in her hands and growl “get out!!” in peed-off spirit style at every available opportunity.

So she was fascinated to hear that the Bridge is a veritable treasure trove of ghostly activity. Maria has seen the tell tale orbs of light energy pinging around the place and although the hotel itself is spirit-free “there’s definitely something” in the bar, restaurant and in the old servants’ quarters downstairs.

Consequently, we’ve added it to our list of haunted Wirral pubs which will be returning to for some psychic investigations later this year.

I like a pint and a little shiver with me Sunlight.