Ten top pubs and bars in Southport and Formby have made it into the CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2027.
They include a selection of proper pubs and craft ale gems, honoured in “the definitive guidebook to pubs that serve great cask beer across the UK”.
The venues chosen locally include two in Hillside, two in Freshfield, five in the Southport town centre area and one on Duke Street.
There are no pubs included from Churchtown, Birkdale or Ainsdale this year.
The local places included in the Good Beer Guide 2027 are:
The Grasshopper, 70 Sandon Road, Hillside PR8 4QD, (01704) 569794.
Housed in what used to be an old Martins Bank branch until 1978, this pub sits in a row of shops close to Hillside train station. Outdoor seating is available at the front of the building and a beer garden is to the rear. Eight changing ales and six real ciders are served. Oversized pint glasses are available. Local CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year 2026
Pines, 3 Hillside Road, Hillside PR8 4QB, 07454 453090
The bar is situated in an area that originally had no pubs or bars but which now has two CAMRA award-winning outlets. Two handpumps offer a choice of ales, and bottled beers are also available. An outside seating area at the front is popular in warmer months. Sometimes the bar gets noisy, though it is calm and relaxing at other times.
Southport Beer Den, 65-67 Duke Street, Southport PR8 5BT, 01704 329007
A cosy micropub originally set up by the Parker Brewery, but following the brewery’s demise it continues to be run by the original owner. Four changing guest beers are usually available sourced from the North-West. A small separate side room is available, and outside seating on the pavement. The famous British Lawnmower Museum is just round the corner.
Guest House 16 Union Street, Southport PR9 0QE, 01704 537660
A building with an impressive frontage and interior. There are 11 handpumps, one serving ales from a local microbrewery. This traditional pub has outside seating at the front and a courtyard area to the rear. Home-made food is served including a Sunday carvery.
Lakeside Inn Promenade, Southport PR9 0EA, 01704 544121
The Lakeside has a former place in the Guinness Book of World Records as Britain’s smallest pub. It overlooks the town’s marine lake, and rowers practising on the lake are also regulars. Outside tables to the front and rear can be used in warm weather. Opening hours are reduced during the winter months.
Masons Arms 4 Anchor Street, Southport PR9 0UT 01704 534123
A small, traditional, well-kept pub, tucked away behind the town’s former main post office and close to the railway station. Its cosy oak-panelled snug and roaring fire make it an ideal winter haunt. No longer a Marston’s pub, since becoming a free house the beer selection now focuses on regional breweries
Sir Henry Segrave 93-97 Lord Street, Southport PR8 1RH 01704 530217
Named after the former world land speed record holder, who used to race on Southport flats, this spacious Wetherspoon pub has an attractive 19th-century exterior. The manager is a supporter of real ale and runs regular beer festival trips and occasional Meet the Brewer evenings. The 12 handpumps offer the best all-round choice of beers in Southport. There is outside seating on Lord Street.
Tap & Bottles 19A Cambridge Walk, Southport PR8 1EN 01704 544322
This popular micropub is in Cambridge Arcade between Chapel Street and Lord Street, next to The Atkinson. It has a huge bottled beer selection and a choice of four ever changing real ales from a range of breweries with a North-West slant. There is plenty of inside seating and some outside.
Beer Station 3 Victoria Buildings, Freshfield L37 7DB 01704 807450
Freshfield’s first micropub features a changing selection of locally sourced beers. Bottled beers add to the variety and the few spirits available also have their provenance checked. The walls are decorated with work by local artists. Dogs are welcome on a lead if the pub is not too busy.
Freshfield 1 Massams Lane, Freshfield L37 7BD 01704 874871
A CAMRA multi award winner, this community pub has a long bar featuring an impressive array of handpumps offering a changing beer selection. Real cider is also often available during festivals. Sport is shown on three large TVs, and a real fire adds warmth in winter. Food is served in the dining room. Well-behaved dogs are allowed.
The 2027 CAMRA Good Beer Guide cover features the Oxford Bar, Edinburgh, sponsored by Midland Snacks Traditional Pork Scratchings and endorsed by Cask Marque.
CAMRA has published the 2027 Good Beer Guide, while renewing calls for a formal competition investigation into the global brewers that dominate the UK beer market, and continuing their quest to get independently brewed beers on as many bars as possible.
The Guide is the definitive guidebook to pubs that serve great cask beer across the UK, and uses an independent, volunteer-led selection process that makes it the authoritative and trusted voice of cask beer drinkers. It features 4,500 pubs, 1,700 brewers and 5,000 beers.
The foreword for the 2027 edition is written by Sir Ian Rankin. He, and his fictional detective Rebus, both frequent the Oxford Bar, in Edinburgh, which features on the cover of this year’s Guide.
This year, data from the Guide shows:
- 137 breweries have closed, and only 57 new breweries have opened.
- There are 812 new entries in the 2027 Guide.
In a year where independent brewery closures have slowed, but not returned to growth, the Guide remains the go-to source for finding choice and quality in pubs.
Ash Corbett-Collins, CAMRA Chairman, said:
“The Good Beer Guide is fiercely independent, just like the brewers making the best beer. It is the result of the time and effort of our volunteers across the UK to find the pubs serving the best kept cask beer.
“This year, we released our flagship report, ‘Beer in the UK’, alongside our campaign to expose how ‘Big Beer’ is dominating the UK beer market, and how ordinary drinkers and independent brewers lose out as a result. Because of that, we need the Competition and Markets Authority to start a formal investigation of the UK on-trade beer market. If you agree with us, please join CAMRA, buy the Guide, and find amazing independently brewed beers for yourself.”
Sir Ian Rankin, writing in the foreword of the Guide, said:
“What makes the perfect pub? Ask fifty people and you might get fifty different answers… My preferences might not be yours, but there are a few things we can probably agree on. We want the beer to be good and the welcome to be friendly. We want to see signs that the bar represents the best of its community or neighbourhood. We want to feel like we fit in.”
A pint of cask beer deserves the perfect snack. That’s why CAMRA is delighted to have Midland Snacks Traditional Pork Scratchings as their perfectly matched sponsor for 2027.
The 2027 Guide is also endorsed by Cask Marque.
Buy the Good Beer Guide 2027 from the CAMRA website: shop1.camra.org.uk/product/the-good-beer-guide-2027/ and all good bookstores, with a standard retail price of £16.99
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