34 pubs from the Liverpool & Districts branch of CAMRA have made the Good Beer Guide – we look at five of them
Liverpool has a reputation as a city with great pubs and many of them have been duly recognised in the new edition of The Good Beer Guide. Published every year, The Good Beer Guide is a guide to the best pubs and beer in the UK.
Organised by CAMRA – the campaign for real ale – it is independent and inclusion is free and dependent on merit, with all entries chosen and checked by CAMRA members. CAMRA’s vision is to have quality real ale and thriving pubs in every community.
The guide, which includes the 4,500 pubs that the organisation considers the best for real ale across the country, was first properly published in 1974. It also includes a list of real ale breweries found across the country.
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In total, 34 pubs from the Liverpool & Districts branch of CAMRA have made it into the 2025 edition, which has been published today. It includes some new entries and many pubs which regularly feature in the annually-published guide.
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Here, we look at five from the branch to have made the list.
Roscoe Head – Liverpool city centre
The Roscoe Head is our only local pub to have featured in every edition of the guide. Found on Roscoe Street in the city centre, it is a compact side-street pub with a focus firmly on real ale.
It is one of the city’s oldest pubs, having been established in 2024, and marks the life of slavery abolitionist William Roscoe. Landlady Carol Ross has been in charge for the last 27 years. Her parents, Nicky and Margaret Joyce, first took over the pub back in 1981.
Consisting of a main bar, two small rooms and a tiny snug, much tradition has been kept at The Roscoe Head and with no jukeboxes or fruit machines in sight, the business prides itself on being a “conversation pub.”
Earlier this year, Carol told the ECHO: “You know the customers, then they have their babies, then you know their kids. It’s successive really – they’re like your neighbours.
“Some people get a bus to here, a train to here, for the beer. We’ve got no music, no television – it’s a pure conversation pub and that’s what is special about it.”
The Vernon
Dale Street pub The Vernon Arms was taken over by Conor Devlin in January of this year, having previously been run by Jimmy and Barbara Monaghan. Boasting a wealth of real ale options, it is no surprise that it has often been praised by CAMRA, receiving a LocAle award from them every year since 2009.
In June, Conor told the ECHO: “This is a real traditional pub. It’s exceptional to have something like this in the centre of town because it’s the last of a dying breed, having these sort of pubs in town.
“I don’t plan to change that, it works very well and I want to keep it like that. It’s renowned for real ale, just today the 2024 CAMRA LocAle award has just gone up. You’ll see up above the bar, there’s an award every year from 2009.”
He added: “Trapper’s Hat (a session ale) flies out – anything from Brimstage does. Brimstage is one of those breweries that you can drink by brewery.
“I don’t care what the drink is, it’s by Brimstage so I’ll have it. Their Oyster Catcher porter is astonishing, they gave me that as an exclusive last year.
“They brew it seasonally, they stop it in April. I was trying to convince them to go on, because I can sell a porter all year round – I have a porter coming on today.
“It’s really important to support the local ales. Brimstage would stand up against any ale in the country.
“Supporting the local breweries is key – you have to do that. There are some fantastic ales nationally and we get those in, but the local ones are top.
“Essentially, we’re a real ale pub and I don’t think you can exist today if you’re just going to sell lagers. You have to do real ales.”
Cask – Stoneycroft
Cask opened in 2015. Founded by Ian and Michelle Barton, the pub had a successful start to life, selling local beers and ales from its compact and homely venue on Queens Drive’s junction with Stoneycroft Close. However, the pub closed in 2019 when Ian and Michelle decided to retire. It was revived by former engineer Patrick and his dad Eric Mills, who reopened Cask in February 2020.
After battling through the coronavirus pandemic, Patrick and Eric have managed to make the pub a bustling venue once again. They are inspired by their passion for real ale and Cask’s role in championing it.
In 2023, Patrick told the ECHO: “My passion behind it was building the community aspect back into the pub. I used to drink in The Bard in Prescot and that’s what got me into the world of real ale.
“We try to stay as Northern as possible with the beer. We do deal with Liverpool breweries, we’ve got Top Rope and Carnival in, things like that.
“And we do try to work with the surrounding areas – Manchester, Lancashire beer. We deal a lot with Tatton Brewery, Mobberley in Knutsford – they’re a fantastic brewery with really high quality beer. We go as far as Wigan, we try to stay fairly local but try to spread our support for wonderful beer across the North.
“The idea is that we are offering a different experience on the beer pumps as well as the customer base that we have in. We have characters of all sorts and beers of all sorts.
“We know what our customer base enjoys. We take note and we listen so we can provide them with the weird and wonderful beers that fit their palate.
“I’d say 90% of the close behind the pub are customers of ours – it’s a real community aspect of that close and the surrounding area. There are a lot of people that choose to meet at Cask.”
The Dispensary – Liverpool city centre
Having stood on the corner of Renshaw Street and Oldham Street since 1857, The Dispensary is one of Liverpool’s oldest pubs. Previously part of the Cains empire – evident through the now-defunct brewery’s branding on its exterior – it has had many owners and guises in recent decades.
Keeping its storied history going is what motivates owner Trevor O’Loughlin. Born in Galway, Ireland, to a family of publicans and bar owners, Trevor now lives in Aigburth and took over the pub in 2018, turning it into an Irish pub that possesses far more authenticity than many you would find.
About taking over The Dispensary, Trevor recently told the ECHO: “The previous landlord was retiring, his wife wasn’t well. It was an opportunity to take over what has always been a fantastic pub.
“You never really own a place like this, you’re a custodian of it. You have a period or a passage of time where it’s in your hands before it’s onto the next one.”
The Vines – Liverpool city centre
Known colloquially as ‘The Big House, this Grade II-listed pub underwent a huge renovation in 2023, having been bought by The 1936 Pub Company which owns a number of venues across the city including Lark Lane’s The Green Man and The Red Lion on Slater Street. It has become an incredibly popular venue since its rejuvenation, drawing plenty of people for its stunning design and wide range of cask ale.
Earlier this year, the pub has been named the best in class across the whole of England, taking home CAMRA’s Historic Conservation Award. On its reopening a spokesperson for the pub told the ECHO said: “We’ve put a lot of love and care into rejuvenating it as authentically as possible.
“Feedback from the first few dozen customers was really heartening. People were in awe of the Edwardian decor after it being hidden for decades. The cask ales are absolutely flying out as expected, and the cocktails will probably take precedence later in the evening.”
