Dale Street Pub Crawl #1
The Best Dale Street Pub Crawl tl;dr
- Ship & Mitre
- The Excelsior
- The Vernon Arms
- Lady of Mann
- Ma Boyle’s or Ye Hole in Ye Wall
Dale Street and it’s connecting roads are crammed full of a variety of different styles of bars, pubs and clubs. If you’re a regular drinker in the Concert Square, Mathew Street or Baltic Triangle – then heading up towards Dale Street will be a great change of scenery for you.
As with all of our bar crawls, these are just some of the bars and pubs in the area and will not feature any of the nightclubs. This crawl will feature 5 bars/pubs for you to enjoy with varying prices for your drinks all along Dale Street itself. As for times, doing a pub crawl at peak weekend times might change your route due to venues being too full to accommodate a group – so the crawl route will assume there are no full capacities and not peak hours.
Stop #1 – Ship & Mitre
This is one of our absolute favourites in the city, and is in the top 10 of all the venues in Liverpool for places to drink. Full of Belgian and German Wheat & Blonde beers, bottles from around Europe and a huge selection of ciders, this is a beer lover’s paradise. There’s too many drinks here to recommend, a list of their continental beers, real ales, craft and spirits can be seen on the wall as you walk in along with prices.
Anyway, stop #1 is the Ship & Mitre, located at the end of Dale Street near the Queensway tunnel and the LJMU campus. There’s an everchanging menu of beers but as a starter place, grab a pint of your favourite Weiss beer and perhaps order something from the small, but very good quality food menu. You order your drinks at the bar, and the food from the kitchen itself.
The venue opens from 10:00am most days, 09:00 on Friday & Saturday so it’s as great place to start off a pub crawl if you’re heading in early. There’s quite a lot of seating downstairs towards the back of the pub and on some days the upstairs in open for extra seating, although the times the upstairs is open is unknown.
Stop #2 – The Excelsior
The Excelsior, located next to the Ship & Mitre as you walk up Dale Street, is a great stop for drink #2. This bar in our experience doesn’t get much mention in pub crawls or recommendations for places to drink when in the city, but it’s actually a fantastic venue with a local pub feel. They have a rotating cask ale selection available and a variety of beers, ciders, wines and spirits. If you’re sticking with the Weiss beer from Ship & Mitre, then enjoy an Erdinger here, if you’re not already full from the heavier drinks beforehand!
They have also reopened their kitchen in 2022, and the food is FANTASTIC. Burgers, dirty fries and a range of veggie/vegan items are now available to order.
As for seating, there is quite a lot of indoor seating with some outdoor seating available along the side road. Finish your drinks here, the next stop is just a few buildings over.
Stop #3 – The Vernon Arms
Stop number 3 brings us to The Vernon Arms, another local style pub full of local people. This venue is quite small but boasts a lot of character with the warm decoration and live music on various days of the week. For drink number 3, there are some rotating new ales available here and all the regular beers/ciders of a local pub along with some more premium drinks such as Erdinger, Madri and Peroni. There is more seating in the back of the venue and there is the Latham Lounge which may be open depending on capacity, otherwise this is normally hired out for functions.
The next bar on this pub crawl is a little walk away and you will pay a couple venues on the way, so if you wish, head in and then head on to stop #4.
Stop #4 – Lady of Mann
Now, if you’ve been in Liverpool a while or are part of one of the many societies in the city such as the International Friends group or otherwise, you will have heard of Lady of Mann and probably been here before. This venue is one of the more known places to go for a drink as it’s close to many key parts of the city. Located at the back of Tom Rigby’s which is part of the same venue as Lady of Mann, there is a large outdoor seating area and an equally as large indoor area.
You will find many premium beers and ciders here along with some bottled drinks you may not have heard before such as Rocky Road (should it still be there).
Live Sports are shown at this venue, and there is an entrance to Tom Rigby’s from the courtyard, should you want to head in there for one too. There’s a ton of seating but do keep in mind the venue is popular, especially on warmer days where the outside tends to be full. If this is the case, we’ve found there always to be room inside.
Grab a pint of Pravha and find your corner to stand in before heading to the final spot on this short pub crawl.
Stop #5 – Ma Boyle’s
(Choice 1)
For the last stop, we’re giving you two options because Ma Boyle’s is extremely popular and may be full at most times of day, and it may be more preferred to start here and end at the Ship & Mitre as the food here is amazing. It’s at the very end of Dale Street, off the actual street itself.
One of Liverpool’s oldest and most famous pubs dating all the way back to 1870. This alehouse and eatery will a great place to end (or start) this pub crawl. As this may be your last venue, let’s not bang on about the food and get onto the final drinks.
The menu of bottled beers is quite long, but what makes this place shine is the spirits and cocktails available. A Full menu can be seen here.
There is seating indoors and out, although as mentioned, it’s a busy venue so you may wish to book or just chance it on the day. As it’s a little far away from the other bars, the second choice might be more up your street.
Stop #5 – Ye Hole in Ye Wall
(Choice 2 or stop 5 before Ma Boyle’s)
This isn’t quite Dale Street, it’s just around the corner from Lady of Mann so you won’t be having to walk the distance to Ma Boyle’s and potential disappoint for lack of room.
Ye Hole in Ye Wall is however a cosy little pub with a lot of character and a great place to finish up the crawl with a few beers and spirits. They do not serve food but what they do have is the ‘Gin Corner’, although you won’t get your group into it, just know that it exists and therefore a ton of gin’s are sold here. The drinks here are pretty cheap and a decent selection of ales and ciders are available. The landlady is extremely friendly and would welcome your group any day of the week.
Next door you have the Denbigh Castle, another little pub full of less traditional beers and, as far as we know, options available only in that venue.
Wrap-up
This is just a small, mainly beer focused pub crawl along Dale Street and many venues are in-between those mentioned here. The pub crawl can be reversed and finished at Ship & Mitre but we do recommend you go here regardless of starting position. If you time it well on a Thursday, you can also participate in the quiz here. Most venues along the way show live sports on various screens and as such, if Liverpool or another big game is being shown, it may be difficult to get into most places.
If you like this short crawl, please let us know and feel free to give any suggestions for future edits and editions of Dale Street Pub Crawls.
