Two local pubs are hoping to bring in more punters by offering entertainment. Lloyds No 1 has turned the old upstairs smoking bar into a comedy and cabaret space for drinkers.

Meanwhile, the Fox and Goose – under the new ownership of Leo Bar’s Trevor Ford – is opening a comedy club at the pub and hopes to put on live music four nights a week.

We all need entertainment, but I prefer comics in the more refined space of a (traditional) club. Even the best comedian will find it impossible to joke above the apathetic chatter of a pub.

Personally, the best entertainment is at The Volly. Their country sing-a-longs are the best fun in town.

The newly re-opened Ship & Anchor and Leo’s bar over the road have signs proclaiming real ale for sale. Both have nothing of the sort despite local Camra members reporting them to the awful Sefton Council.

The Ship does have bottles of Copper Dragon at least. The comely barmaid at Leo’s can offer nothing except her youthful beauty.

Neither had any customers when the SD called. Lesson?

There is, however, good craic at the Windmill – and as fine a pint of Black Cat as you can get.

Meanwhile the Oast house looks very sad and closed.

Leo’s Bar on Nevill Street is selling Black Sheep Ale. The pub went through a long dispute with local Camra activists for advertising cask ale when none was on. Finally they can take the gaffer tape off the sign.

What is is about pubs that inspire such loyalty? Insult a person’s faith or football team and all you’ll get is a shrug of the shoulders. Bad -mouth their bar and you can expect a sterner response.

Just such a situation has reared its head recently in Southport. The Campaign for Real Ale’s excellent Ale and Hearty newsletter mentioned that Leo’s Bar on Nevill Street didn’t serve real ale and that fans of cask beer should look elsewhere. An innocuous comment you would have thought, and easily taken on the chin by Leo’s. They provide their customers with what they want, and if they don’t want cask beer, so be it.

However, the remark provoked a furious response from Brenda, licensee of the Mason’s Arms on Anchor Street. She wrote a furious letter to A&H saying accusing the newsletter of organising a boycott of the pub, adding that it was a “breathtaking and blatant attack on a legitimate and popular business”. The shellshocked editor replied that he was “mortified” to have caused such offence and promised to take “much greater care in future”.

Brenda rang me later to say Everyone had missed the point. What she was upset about was a decrease in comradeship among licencess in Southport. Hopefully the situation is sorted out now. I’m sure no one is “boycotting” the pub, especially as Leo’s is really making an effort for its punters, with good live music and impromptu Nintendo Wii tournaments.

Anyway, for the record, this blog will hopefully not become a “beer bore”. Lager drinkers are welcome, even those who enjoy pubs but drink nothing but Coca Cola. It’s about pubs and the characters that inhabit them. It’s to be taken with a pinch of salt, if not lime and tequila.