The pub which is ‘the last of a dying breed’ is like ‘home’ to its regulars

Conor Devlin wanted to make just one change when he took over The Vernon Arms.

The 58-year-old had been manager of the traditional Dale Street pub for some time, working under former owners Jimmy and Barbara Monaghan. When Jimmy and Barbara announced they were retiring in January this year, Conor, originally from Dungannon, County Tyrone, was suitable to become a landlord.

Conor, who had been a regular at the pub long before he worked there, wanted to keep things pretty much exactly the same. But it might not shock you that the only change the Irishman had in mind related to Guinness.

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He told the ECHO: “When I came from Ireland I was surprised that there was only Guinness Extra Cold – that was a very strange thing and I couldn’t get my head around it. In Ireland, the starting point is regular Guinness. .Then you can have extra cold if you want.

“The first thing we did when we came in was we got an extra Guinness tap so we could do regular Guinness. I wanted to turn the temperature up a few degrees – now, it’s creamier, thicker and has more flavor.

“I realize when someone walks into the bar and asks for a Guinness, I know who’s going to have regular or cold draft.

“If they’re Irish they’ll have the usual, if they’re from Liverpool and a bit older they’ll have the usual. The younger ones will have an extra cold – we know what they’re going to have.

“I drink Guinness so it must be good here. I always look at it.”

As you would expect from any good owner, Conor takes his beer seriously. The Vernon Arms is renowned for the quality and quantity of its cask ale and has been awarded CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) every year since 2009. Conor is passionate about real ale and wants to maintain this reputation.

He explained: “This is a real traditional pub. It’s exceptional to have something like this in the city center as it’s the last of a dying breed of pubs like this in the city.

“I don’t intend to change that, it works really well and I want to keep it that way. It’s famous for real ale, just today the CAMRA LocAle 2024 award just went up. You’ll see up above the bar there’s been an award every year since 2009.”

The pub’s seven hand pumps are always in use, serving beers from all over the country. Conor is always keen to support local breweries and the Wirral Brimstage Brewery always sells particularly well.

He said: “Trapper’s Hat (a session beer) flies – anything from Brimstage does. Brimstage is one of those breweries that you can drink from the taproom.

“I don’t care what drink it is, it’s next to the Brimstage so I’ll have it. Their Oyster Catcher is amazing, they gave me this as an exclusive last year.

“I do it seasonally, I stop it in April. I was trying to get them to move on because I can sell a porter all year – I have a porter today.

“It’s very important to support local beers. Brimstage would stand up to any beer in the country.

“Supporting local breweries is key – you have to do it. There are some fantastic beers nationally and we get them, but the local ones are top notch.

“We are essentially a real ale pub and I don’t think you can exist today if you just want to sell lagers. You have to make real beer.”

Vernon’s regulars include plenty of draft beer drinkers who feel right at home in its traditional surroundings. When he took over, Conor didn’t want to do anything to upset that.

“For me, it was just keeping it open because it’s very, very important to the community and as a hub for people,” he said. “So I didn’t even want to close the doors for a day – that’s what we managed to do at the end of January, we took it over and kept it open.

“The real thing I love is that the same faces come up. The same guy sits there and comes at this time of day and sits there. If I didn’t see these people, I would be worried.

“It’s a bit of a people’s house, it’s never changed, so people still feel very much a part of it. The same people who have been coming for years keep coming at the same time, ordering the same thing, and sitting in the same place. It’s one of those places where if that doesn’t happen, you’re worried.”

Conor added: “I looked recently and there were two couples sitting here. It was the mid 70s, it was a Tuesday night and I was having a pint of real ale, a Guinness and the ladies were having a glass of wine. .

“I just thought – we make it easy for them. They sit here, have a nice Tuesday night, and we create that environment for them. It’s really special, you know. It’s great to do that.”

The Vernon is one of many historic pubs in Liverpool’s business district, Conor values ​​his neighbors and believes they all work well in harmony.

He said: “Our strap line is ‘Putting beer in Dale Street’. The thing about this street is that it is the only street in the country to have five bars in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide, no other street has that.

“You have all these pubs and all on one street. On Friday a lot of people start at the Ship & Miter and then work their way up and then back down. All of us pubs work together and this is an amazing part of town to drink beer in. It would tick every box for real ale.

“It’s something I really wanted to work with. It’s the beer district – having The Ship and Excelsior nearby, all making good beer, benefits us all. That’s the way it works, everyone loves a pub crawl.

Being part of a pub hub in central Liverpool is something Conor has always wanted. Although his route to running The Vernon is far from conventional.

He explained: “I left Ireland over 30 years ago. I went to Belgium – I went into the IT field and worked in the European institutions in Brussels.

“I kept coming to Liverpool. Then I moved to London but I kept coming to Liverpool. It was driving me crazy, I’d leave on a Sunday but everyone would come – back when all the families were getting dressed up and went out on a Sunday afternoon.

“You’d have every age group, young people, dads, grandads, everyone coming out. I’d leave it and go home so it really drove me crazy. So I thought – I’m moving to Liverpool and this is what I’ve got made.”

The owner isn’t quite sure how he ended up switching careers in IT for the hospitality industry. But he believes his family history has something to do with it.

He said: “I used to come here to drink and then an opportunity came up to manage the place so I got into it. Recently, I thought, maybe it’s in my DNA because my grandfather, who I never met, actually had a bar in the docks in Belfast

“The docks were devastated in the Blitz in 1941, the whole area no longer exists, but my father grew up in that bar in Belfast, they are publicans on my mother’s side too, so it’s probably in my DNA. Lying there, unaware of it.

“I retired more or less two years ago, I thought I was going to stay put.

“But this opportunity came up to take it, so I jumped at it. It wasn’t planned at all, I had no idea I was going to do it, no intention, but maybe that publican part of me had woken up. .”

Vernon’s band of regulars will be very glad they did.

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