please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Maybe I picked a bad night but this place was heaving with the o aye Oyston 'Fylde Coast Exective' set in twin set and pearls, golfing jumpers and a faux superior feeling - for all that trying to get served at the bar was worse than at one of the manic spoons in Blackpool. Gave up on it and left.
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It may be greene king owned but the they have a great selection of guest beers and a great clientele who know their beer. Food is really good and is possibly the best in the area. Si get yourself here folks it's great.
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Paid a 3rd visit which again saw a busy pub, mainly serious drinkers, and a slightly better half of something 5ish % from a bigger micro. Hides it's Greene King ownership well.
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Long time since we had been here and we were met with something of a surprise as there was a beach party going on and the entire floor area was covered in sand (and quite deep sand at that!) Goood fun though and as usual the beer was fine (Enjoyed Crouch Vale Amarillo and Osset Silver link). This is one of the best pubs in the area and always well worth a visit. I think it is owned by Greene King who obviously know the value in keeping the guest ales flowing!!
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1st visit here since the previous long standing manager has gone. Everything seemed in order from my previous visits. two ales from Liverpool Organic, 1 Acorn and 1 Lymestone were sampled, all in excellent condition.
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Great lively pub (World War II day meant some unusually-attired customers), and lots of beer-house character; the Pendle was only OK though.
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In real ale terms "the Taps", a CAMRA 2009 award winner, is a gem, usually at least eight on offer & more often than not, ten.
The pub itself is fairly basic and a little sparse. It has an "open plan" design (with timber floors) with most of it's seating confined to the front & side walls, there are also a few stools scattered about. You will also find a few extra tables & chairs in the outside yard area (covered) at the back of the pub. But be warned though, I have been here on numerous occasions and it can get very busy, especially on sunny weekends, so finding one of those precious seats can often be difficult, so be prepared to stand.
Despite the congestion at the bar & obvious stress for the three lads serving, they were cheerful & courteous enough, although I did have to ask for a "top up" on two occasions, but I put this down to the pure volume of customers.
The beers on offer where, house bitter & mild from Titanic, Green King IPA, Kelham Island~Pale Rider, Hopback~Summer Lightning, Lytham~IPA & Gold, Moorhouses~Blond Witch, Phoenix~Arizona and as always, I found their condition spot on.
Food? There is a small & reasonably priced menu & whilst I didn't try any on this occasion, what I saw looked really good & I hear tell that the home made "soup of the day" @ only �2.95 inc' fresh roll is excellent.
The toilets are OK, but probably it's weakest point. Fairly basic, but on my visit were clean and fresh smelling which is all one asks I suppose.
The client�le on the day was pretty mixed, but is generally popular with couples & groups. I've never seen any children in here which is a refreshing change. But it's a serious real ale venue too so is obviously popular with the more mature amongst us too (like me)
In a nut shell, this is a cracking little pub, OK, it can get very busy so time your visit. If you do manage to get a seat you're half way there. For the real ale drinkers amongst us, this is a must.
Recommended.
Les Walker
Pub/Beer Critic
(BeerNorthWestUK) - Twitter
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the pub had10 beers on cask.tried stairway to heaven. pint was good apart for the price 2-80 for north west england thats expensive
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Greene king pub with a better choice than the average King pub. very well conditioned beer in a lovely pub, thought the beer choice could have been a little better but a very good , welcoming pub.
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Top visit yesterday. Great lunch. Brilliant advert for how beer should be kept & served. Alittle disappointed about the choice on offer but thats life.
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Great pub, unlucky to miss out on National Pub of the Year in my opinion. Great range of beer, nice interior and a pleasant little outside section. Well worth a visit in what is a very nice little town.
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condolences Ian, June will be missed by all
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A usual high standard visit yesterday. The 2 beers tried were in top order (Darkstar - Hophead & Castle Rock - Screech Owl IPA). Busy as usual.
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Great selection of well kept ales... and we even got a seat last night!
alexw - 24 Sep 2009 06:52 |
We could happily live in this pub! Really fantastic beer and wine. The bar staff were friendly, everywhere was clean and the outside area is perfect for summer drinking. Can not wait to go back!
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Nearly didn't go in as it's Greene King but was glad I did. We were lucky to get a seat - it's extremely popular. The chap next to me said he'd been sent in by his wife to bag a table while she shopped. You can see why it's so busy - the food was good and the beer choice fabulous - well kept too. One of the best pubs, if not the best, on our trip to the area.
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No doubt the best pub on the Fylde Peninsular ( since the demise of the Wyre Lounge at Fleetwood anyway ). Great choice of beer, always well kept. Very busy pub especially in the evenings. Good value lunch's - the Pea & Ham soup is fantastic.
Any essential visit if ever within the Fylde
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Greene King Cask Ale Pub Of The Year, And boy was it the best Greene King pub i've ever drunk in in the country! Ten handpumps,amazing looking bar,�2.25pint,endless beer bottle adoring walls and beer mats above the bar,no wonder it was(and deserved to be) the busiest pub in Lytham on my visit! 9/10 without a doubt
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Excellent range of ale with the Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted being particularly well kept. No piped music and a limited range of food which is a good thing. Very popular with a varied clientele who were actually engaging in conversation. Most refreshing.
Beer clips from previously served ales hang from the ceiling. Think there is a smoking area out the back. Couple of fruit machines and a quiz machine.
Would love to make a return visit but I live the best part of three hundred miles away.
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Had a great night, tried all 8 available guest beers and a pint of cider, not a bad one amongst them. Highly recommended and nice to see a pub so busy in the current economic climate.Just goes to show how a well run pub catering for a particular clientele can thrive.
Looking forward to another visit
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What a brilliant pub and the gaffer was so friendly, finding time to stop and chat about his beers. Beer selection great and well served too. Enjoyed beers from Titanic, Lytham, Coach House and Wolf breweries here. Called back for a second helping before getting the bus back to Blackpool. Great place.
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This is certainly a pub that deserves every bit of the praise that it receives. Top notch ale served by pleasant staff in equally pleasant surroundings. As has been mentioned before, pubs as good as this are hard to come across and it's great to see that the Taps continues to flourish. Excellent.
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Can't say I've been there for a while, but what a great place!
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Excellent pub and special praise for the first class bar staff.
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outstanding pub,the beer is 1st class.
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Always several beers to want to go at in this consistently good pub. It almost makes a 350 mile round trip to visit the mother in law bearable
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Used the Taps to escape from Blackpool twice in three nights and very much enjoyed this hearty, rugby-watching pub in then heart of a nicely retro, genteel town. Atmosphere is good; no piped music, lots of good conversation, great beer, well-priced; lots of interesting memorabilia; starangers like me made to feel welcome but not bothered. Minus marks for being a tad self-conscious and the fruit machines but otherwise very good. What a pity that such good pubs are such rarities.
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This pub comes highly recommended. It has plenty of character, a good choice of real ales (in good condition) and brilliant service from the staff.
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I'm the kind of guy who wears a shirt when he goes out and doesn't like to get glassed, so my drinking options in Blackpool are rare. Luckily, in the next down the coast, there's this gem.
Don't judge the place from the outside, as it looks like a brick shoebox. The interior is much nicer, and the pub has an incredible beer selection. They seem to primarily sell ales from the local area, so it's a nice place to visit and try beers that I'll probably never see in London.
Worth the trek out of Blackpool.
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(Disclosure: I work at the Taps, as a bar supervisor/cellarman)
I'd just like to assure people reading Terry W's review of something -- Abbot Ale is _not_ a permanent fixture in the Taps, by a long way! We do have an almost-permanent fixture in Taps Mild, although occasionally other milds will displace this, and Taps Bitter (a slight variation on Titanic Steerage brewed specially for us) and Greene King IPA are indeed permanent residents on our bar. This still leaves 5 spaces for rotating guests, which is more than any other pub in Lytham currently manages, even without counting the 3 "regular" beers.
To MartinRAF, I'd like to point out that we have a lot of customers who prefer a large head on their pint, and since it's far easier to top up a pint than to add to the head retrospectively, in the interests of pleasing everybody I'm afraid he'll just have to keep asking for a top-up -- sorry for the inconvenience, Martin, but I'm sure our beer's well worth it ;-)
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Had heard great things about this pub and on a visit to Lytham on Monday took the opportunity to spend the evening in there. Arrived at 7.30 and managed to grab a table despite the pub already being very busy. There was a great atmosphere because it was busy and a wide selection of very well kept ales on tap! Do check out the hand rails and head rest in the gents - an amusing touch!
One negative was that - as experienced in so many pubs these days - the staff don't give time for the beer to settle so you always get a short pint unless you ask for it to be topped up. If they could sort that - perhaps by using oversized glasses - it could be the perfect pub!
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Great real ale pub always 8 diferent ales on
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Well it was my first ever visit last night...and it was wonderful. The beer was the best of the night in a town where all pubs sell real ale. It was comfortably busy...but the atmosphere was fantastic. People were talking! They could hear each other...there was no deafening music. That's a rarity for somebody used to Blackpool pubs. Just like the P and T in the old days.
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Went here at 7.30pm on a week night and it was almost full. Great atmosphere. Mixed age group. Nice clean loos. Friendly staff. Will definately go again x
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It is a great pub with a marvellous landlord, but it's lost its edge for me a bit recently, since Green King took over in fact. Look at the beers. They used to have 8 constantly changing guests. Now, surprise surprise, Greene King's IPA is permanently installed as is the Abbott, even though it's a nice tipple. Plus the pub has its own Taps Best Bitter and Taps Mild, neither of which are record breakers. So that's 4 pumps gone, in terms of new guests ales. Look down the road at the Hastings Club with guest pumps right down the bar. I am nit picking a bit of course - after all it did make it into CAMRA's top 5, and the Hastings has a long way to go to acquire the friendly (if crowded) atmosphere that The Taps usually has. For me personally, The Taps is the second best pub on the Fylde (after the Cartford Hotel, although that wasn't top drawer last time I was in there....there's no pleasing some people!).
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I too have been luck enough to be there with free beer on.
The atmosphere is appealling (no music or alcopops, and lager pumps well-hidden). Particularly on a quiet Monday night in winter when I find it very difficult to leave.
Standard and range of beers is exceptional.
The pub also involves itself in plenty of community type events. Highlights are the Chairty 30 mile bike ride the first Sunday in July. The all-conquering cricket team, for which I have been fortunate enough to guest. (Along I may tell you with a New Zealand test cricketer last year!).
If youve not been there - it should be a must!!
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Best pub I know. Last year I was lucky enough to be there when they had free beer to celebrate making into top 5 of CAMRA's national competition for bets pub. Beer is always in good condition and a good selection. Close to train station so worth a visit - and the beer in Lytham's pub at the train station is pretty good too.
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This has to be the best pub in Lytham St Anne's for real ale drinkers. Friendly atmosphere, friendly staff, and a landlord who loves rugby. Who needs anything more?
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Lovely friendly pub with real ale and a mixed crowd. Beers change weekly and there's always 3-4 excellent ones to choose from. Nice eclectic decor as well.
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