Monday 18 January 2016

Canal-side pub, the Ship Inn, Haskayne

The Ship Inn's beer garden
Southport is fortunate in being close to a variety of country and canal-side pubs: the Ship Inn in Haskayne is one such. It's on Rosemary Lane, just off the A5147 (Scarisbrick to Maghull road), and the 300 bus stops near the junction. It is a popular canal-side pub with a good-sized car park.

The pub had a major refurbishment recently which, I'm glad to report, did not spoil its traditional atmosphere. It has several rooms of varying sizes and an extensive outside drinking area by the canal with covered tables, outdoor heating and lighting, particularly useful for smokers. There is also an outdoor children's play area.

The Ship is an historical pub and was built in 1750; the first cut of the canal was made just yards away. Canal traffic stills calls at there to this day, taking advantage of the available overnight moorings. Canoeists, walkers and horse riders are welcomed here, and pub is muddy boot and dog friendly.

It is now a JW Lees pub and when I called in it was serving MPA (Manchester Pale Ale), Drayman's Reward and Bitter from that brewery; the beers I tried were on good form. Lees Brewery is in Middleton, north Manchester, and its beers are not often seen around here. The pub's opening hours 11.00am to 11.00pm during the week, later at weekends.

The pub has long been known for its food, which is available to 9.00pm during the week, 9.30pm at weekends. It has been awarded the JW Lees Pub of the Year for its food. There is a darts night on Mondays, and an open mic night every second Friday. In keeping with the traditional atmosphere of the pub, there are no pool tables or games machines.

Telephone 01704 840077. Address: 6 Rosemary Lane, Haskayne, L39 7JP.

This is part of a series of articles that I am writing for the CAMRA column in our local paper, the Southport Visiter. Previous reviews are here.

1 comment:

  1. Having visited this pub several times over the years I will now make an effort to get there again, now knowing they serve JW Lees beers. Thanks for that information, as you say it's a beer not that widely available in this part of west Lancashire.

    ReplyDelete

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