Pork pie @ The Lion Tavern
67 Moorfields, Liverpool, L2 2BP
When it comes to great pubs, in the square quarter mile off the bottom end of Dale Street it’s an embarrassment of riches.
Hole in Ye Wall, The Vernon, Ship & Mitre, The Railway, The Poste House — many cities would kill for even one boozer as good as any of these, and you can stumble between each one in a matter of minutes.
Maybe the finest of all, though, is the Lion Tavern. Named for Stephenson’s 1838 steam engine — which ran on the world’s first passenger railway between Liverpool and Manchester — the Lion has been open near continuously for almost 180 years.
The steepled mahogany bar, art nouveau tiles and glazed dome skylight of its beautiful interior are all the result of a 1915 refurbishment. The collection of Pink Floyd, Roxy Music and Elvis Costello CDs in its legendary (and free-to-use) jukebox are the spoils of the long decades since.
Supposedly it was here that poet-soldier Siegfried Sassoon drank before catching the train to Formby to hurl his gallantry medal into the sea to protest the senseless slaughter of the First World War. And, some years later, it’s where the Beatles’ first drummer Pete Best drowned his sorrows after being kicked out of the band.
As those historical anecdotes would indicate, the Lion is first and foremost a drinking pub. Not somewhere to get leathered, but rather a place where — alone or in company — you can luxuriate in the simple joy of going for a bev.
There’s no wipe-clean menu of pub grub here, no ‘three nibbles for £15’ deals on offer. Instead there’s a small electric cabinet at the back of the bar with a stack of pork pies made by HE Coward butchers in Frodsham.
Served cold and accompanied with English Mustard (formerly from a jar passed back and forth over the bar, now in individual sachets) the pies are packed with lightly seasoned chopped meat and soft, sweet fat. Maybe not as much jelly as some would prefer, but the ideal amount for my palate. Encasing it all, a golden and lightly greasy crust.
Order one with a pint of Titanic Plum Porter and enjoy in the pub’s William Morris-wallpapered snug.
