Ashdale Inn

It’s easy to miss this pub on account of the fact it looks more like a furniture store or an arcade from the outside. Unlike some glorious-​looking alcohol-​dispensing palaces found in the area, the Ashdale Inn is one of the more modern places, probably just a newsagents a few years back before the insides were scooped out and swapped with booze paraphernalia.
It’s a curious layout inside, with an elevated bar and meaningless wooden partitions dotted around, probably intended to give it a Victorian look that just fails. The barmaid was glumly silent as she served me and the locals looked like they were made of two wrong sides stitched together. Still, it was infused with a very nostalgic pubby smell that I thought had vanished completely from the world. If you don’t know what I mean, you will do once you stick your nose into this place. Then scarper.

The Ashdale Inn is in an unusual location on Lawrence street in Liverpool. A bit of a locals place, it sits amongst the shops on the street as a bit of a sore thumb, lacking the traditional characteristics of some of its local competitors and certainly not studenty enough to draw custom away from Smithdown Road’s establishments. A middle of the ground kind of place and not really the best in the area.