The Willow Bank

This pub has a healthy mix of locals, students and real ale lovers.
The food menu is well priced and has a good selection on offer, including a children’s menu. I regularly take my children for a bite to eat in the comfortable surroundings. There are special discount nights through the week: grill night/​burger night/​curry night and roast dinner available on Sundays.
The Willow Bank shows sports on its TV screens including an outdoor screen which is a nice way to pass away a sunny day.
There’s a popular quiz night on Wednesday evenings and occasional live music/​DJ at the weekend.
The pub is spotlessly clean and although recently refurbished, has retained most of its ye olde character. The staff are efficient and friendly and ensure the customers are happy.
It’s beer garden is a perfect place to unwind with friends especially when the weather is kind and you forget the proximity to the busy road.

The Willowbank is in the student hub that is Smithdown and it fits in perfectly as it is a well run and friendly pub which provides the kind of value for money that students lap up.
This place has a lovely ambience which manages to fuse all the characteristics of a classic old pub together with the kind of things that make it appealing to the younger student crowd. The staff here are also a mixture of young and old and no matter what their age they know how to friendly and fast and most importantly of all they can pull a great pint.
This place comes into its own in the summer when you can sit in the outdoor seating area and relax with a cold one. In many ways it is almost a smaller version of The Brookhouse but without the chain pub feel which in my eyes makes it superior. The Willowbank is a great pub and a real winner no matter what your age.

The Willowbank is a traditional pub and definitely worth a visit on the way down the road.
With a wood and friendly interior, the Willowbank offers a large selection of ales and lagers all for perfectly acceptable prices for all drinkers alike. There is a larger selection of tables and space inside than what can be interpreted from the outside.
The beer garden is actually situated outside the pub but is enclosed slightly to create a better atmosphere. There is also a large screen TV outside the pub in view of the 8 or so tables outside — perfect for a summer evenings sport. Well worth a drink.

The Willow Bank, a haven on the main street if it’s a hot sunny day the benches are always rammed with people chattering and generally enjoying the weather with some pints.
I’ve only been in here a few times, one of which was the Halloween pub quiz, which they take quite seriously! Some hecklers were shot down (not literally, thank god) by the guy with the mic anyway. A good laugh, pretty cheap ale, alright food (241 in the day) and a decent outside area.
I’m game to visit more often, especially on a quiz night for something a bit different, but I prefer to sit outside than in, it’s rather dingy inside!

This is ‘the other pub’ on Smithdown road after Kelly’s and The Bhouse — I’m not even going to suggest that The Clachan is worth noting as the few regulars in there don’t seem to even want to be there!
If the kids and new students go to The Brookhouse, the 3^rd years and ex-​grads go to Kelly’s then the residents of Smithdown generally drink in the Willow Bank. It is a very dark oaky place with traditional bar and lounge areas at front and back and with a patio area at the front catching the sunshine all day long.
The Willow Bank is pretty good for the footy with plenty of screens — there’s even an outdoor television, not even a big screen mind, which for all its effort is generally redundant when the sun is out which is the only time you want to watch anything outside.
On a friday evening there is a pretty good buzz about the place as local residents and and ASDA staff finishing their shifts will flock here. With a good jukie and plenty of guest ales it’s a good pub to remember when you fell like trying ‘that other one up the road’.

Situated at the top of the student high street, The Willow Bank boasts a list of guest ales, food, and events that justify suggesting «Hey, want to stop in for one?» whenever you’re across the street shopping at ASDA. Now that the weather is better, the beer garden in front has been filled with people of all ages, not just students, and managed to finally draw me in as well.
Even though they advertise cheap food, it all looks to be of the lower end of pub grub. However, their ales more than make up for the food presentation. A few regular lagers on tap, this mid-​sized pub has a slew of guest ales to choose from in addition to the harder stuff for those who did not have a good time shopping at ASDA. The staff were friednly enough and the regulars welcoming, so in that regard I have no complaints whatsoever! My only word of advice is that they allow you to use cards after 5pounds, but if you are a foriegn student or tourist, don’t expect to be able to use your non-​English card. Even though they have the capabilities of swiping these cards, they don’t seem to know how and refused to do it for me. Fair enough– a lot of pubs are cash only so I’ll just have to remember to have my English one on me next time I visit here.
The layout is rambling, with small room after small room after nook, which helps establish a perfect afternoon pub environment indoors. Outdoors, the beer garden has the disadvantage of being in front alongside a very busy street, but as I was sitting out there enjoying my Bath Ale in the warm afternoon sun, I could hardly notice the rush hour traffic roaring past a few feet away. With a quiz each Wednesday and an event coming up with physic and palm readers entertaining the patrons, I’ll definitely make it a habit to visit this pub more often.

From the outside, the Willow Bank looks confident in its status as a singular building. Once you step inside, however, you realise it’s been crudely welded together from at least nine different pubs. Seriously, it looks like a pub showroom. The clincher is the number of televisions. Count them and you find that there’s more screens present than the maximum number of occupants allowed. With its real ale selection and low-​priced grub, the Willow Bank is a soothing location to step off Smithdown into. That is, after all, if its a placid night.
The dark side comes once there’s a match on. With its barking squadron of TVs inside and its gigantic roll-​down screen taking up the whole front wall outside, this is the place everyone in the neighbourhood will flock to. Of course, if you like football, you may find it slightly less hellish than I do. But if you find soccerball rightfully odious, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This pub is located right opposite Asda on Smithdown Road, in the heart of the student areas of residence. It has a few benches and hanging baskets outside which is an interesting touch seeing as it’s in the middle of a very busy road; Smithdown Road runs from Albert Docks, through the city centre, through here, Allerton Road all the way to the John Lennon Airport.
They are part of a chain, and they have good deals on, such as 2 of certain meals for £6, or a burger, chips and pint of beer for £3.99 as well as various drinks offers which is really good because as well as being a student area, it’s also not a rich area anyway. The service is friendly enough and the seating is comfy. It’s a very ordinary pub so you don’t need to feel the need to dress up or anything. I have also never yet seen any trouble here so you should feel safe.
I also like watching the football matches on their TVs here while enjoying my food and beer. The atmosphere can be really lively.

Situated in the heart of the student houses in Liverpool it is a good place to grab a pint with the footy. Its cheap food menu is also a bonus and outside heaters allow you to venture onto the patio if its to cramped inside. Also outside there is a television showing whats on inside, so if its a nice day its perfect.