Blog by Neville Grundy, Southport and West Lancs CAMRA
Two pieces of news concerning the two Beer Den micropubs in Southport, both of which are run by the Parker Brewery in Banks.
The brewery itself will be celebrating its 10th birthday next April and has become known for its good range of real ales.
Firstly, the Beer Den at 125 Rufford Road in Crossens: this bar has just begun for the first time to open on Mondays from 4pm to 10pm, which means that they can now look forward to welcoming thirsty drinkers seven days a week.
After the closure and demolition of the Plough pub quite a few years ago, this part of Southport suffered from a lack of a suitable venue to socialise over a drink and meet people. The Crossens Beer Den has more than adequately plugged this gap.
The Beer Den on Duke Street in Southport. Photo by Neville Grundy
The other announcement concerns the Beer Den at 37a Duke Street in Southport. On Wednesday 1st November, Parker Brewery received the keys to the premises next door, which was formerly the Abbey Photography shop.
The brewery says: “Work will commence straight away to knock through and turn the downstairs room into a cosy snug. In the New Year, we will start to convert the upstairs into more seating/meeting/private hire room. Come the warmer weather we will have additional seating.”
This bar can sometimes get quite busy, even with the outdoor seating to the front for when the weather allows, and I’m sure this extra space will be put to good use.
As it happens, I was the first customer through the door at both outlets. They serve a choice of real ales, with the brewery’s own brews alongside selected guest beers. They do of course have a good choice of other drinks in addition to the real ales to cater for all tastes. I have always found the beers to be well-kept and reasonably priced, and the two venues have been popular with their respective local communities.
Good luck to Parker Brewery; just let me know when you plan to open your third venue so I can try to be the first customer yet again!
You can find the Beer Dens and the Parker Brewery on Facebook, worth following for details of the brewery tours that they arrange from time to time.
► The national CAMRA website is at: camra.org.uk. The Southport & West Lancs Branch website is at southport.camra.org.uk.
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