Blue Anchor Pub, Aintree

Apr 14 2007 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

THE people of Aintree can be forgiven for being a little blasé about living within a short gallop of one of the greatest sporting events.

In the case of the Grand National, familiarity doesn't breed contempt with the locals, but a continuing amusement and curiosity at the human zoo which descends on the place for three days every April.

Outside of the course itself, the best arenas to people-watch are, of course, the nearby pubs one of the best of which is the Blue Anchor, or the Bluey, as it is more affectionately known.

The Bluey has always held a special place in the hearts of Yours Truly and his twin Our Kev.

It's where we had our first pints as under-age drinkers (we were big lads) over 30 Christmasses ago.

Fuelled up by a reservoir of Whitbread bitter, rum and blacks and celebratory Castella cigars served by head bar steward Alf ( who proudly wore his brewery blazer like some regimental sergeant major) we shambled back to Chapple Towers to crank up the stereo and rock, Smashie and Nicie style, to You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.

All those years on and we still regularly pop in there for a pint or five, although mercifully Bachman Turner Overdrive is now a thing of the past.

The Bluey has had its ups and downs in that time, but under the most recent stewardship of Anne and Kenny Houghton it has become increasingly popular and never more so than in Grand National week.

Talking of nationals, the pub was featured last year on national TV as part of brewery Greene King's advertising campaign on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, which they sponsored.

It couldn't have come at a better time because the pub had just reopened after a massive £500,000 revamp.

The shape of the pub has changed on many occasions in the decades since we first started frequenting it, but the Bluey now seems to be nearing its final and definitive incarnation.