Liverpool Weekend (Day Three) – Baltic Fleet Pub
The next pub on the schedule was the Good Beer Guide listed Baltic Fleet pub, a location that I visited a few years ago. The pub dates to the nineteenth century and has recently undergone something of a renovation to give it a more modern interior. It was once a dockers’ pub and was at one stage actually two different venues before they were merged together in 1901. There were formerly tunnels under the road to the Albert Dock, but they’ve now been closed off for safety reasons.
All was quiet and settled at the bar during our visit, but it had been much busier when we arrived. There was a quite a wait and I was served out of turn, but there was no hurry and it gave me longer to ponder which beers to treat myself to. I was aware that the female member of bar staff didn’t want to be at work and hated her job as she told her colleague and other customers this, it was somewhat sub-optimal but there we go. Her colleague was rather more professional and just got on with the matter of serving customers which helped clear the backlog quite quickly.
I went for half of a Marble Mild from Marble Beers which had notes of chocolate about it.
The Peat Bog Porter from the Big Bog Brewing Company reminded me of when Richard fell into a bog a few weeks ago on an LDWA challenge event. It was also rich with strong liquorice flavours and more subtle chocolate ones, meaning that I felt a hint of decadence to proceedings.
As there was no-one else in the male toilets, I took this photo of their rather innovative design.
The pub is moderately well reviewed, although they don’t respond to reviews and I do wonder what went on here:
“Visited this pub last night and ordered 3 pints of a nice cherry flavoured beer. Enjoyed everything about the pub until I left. When I got home I checked my bank account to discover I was charged £20 exactly for those three pints. This left a sour taste in my mouth when I realised how expensive the drinks were but also that the figure must of just been made up by the member of staff as £20 doesnt even divide by three.”
I rather liked the venue although the service was a little awkward for customers listening to how a team member didn’t want to be there. However, everything was clean, the beer choices were interesting and there was a quirky feel to it. The venue is card only which has annoyed a few customers, although I can understand why they’ve made that decision. There are a few negative reviews about that, including one person who has demanded the pub accepts “legal tender” which is hardly relevant as they’ve not collecting a debt. With the pub visited, it was just then an evening walk along the former docks.
