The Midland

I can’t put my finger on just why this place is so easy to miss. Maybe I have a blindness for curvy pubs by train stations. I doubt my brain would register it, to save myself if anything. Anyway, once I’d realise that that building is indeed a pub I was duty-​bound to try it. What an adventurer I am. It wasn’t worth it. The end.
Inside, it’s clear the building was once one of structural eminence but the years of grubby hands and spittle have reduced it to a pit. There’s an odd feeling crackling through the air that the place was boarded up and rotten just a few days ago before some pioneering drunkards broke in and populated it with squatters, who are now waiting for the authorities to discover them. I yearn for the days I didn’t know this place was here.

Hmm, how do I put this? let’s see, The Midland Hotel? OK no other way to put it — it’s a hole.
Yup, I don’t like to be too blunt or harsh when posting a review, even when it’s a place I wouldn’t go often or only when the nuzzle of the gun is firmly against my temple but this place is pretty dire.
Opposite Liverpool’s Central Station, The Midland has the feel you can only find from pubs and cafes situated close to transport links as people wait aimlessly for somewhere to go or even when you can tell there not going anywhere themselves they just seem to be waiting — but for what? Yup plenty of creepy people here too for anyone wanting to write a collection of short stories.
It’s a shame because you can tell this was once a grandiose sort of place as almost all old public houses once were. The carefully carved wood and detailed glasswork are reminders of the important role the pub once played in society but now many like this have a faded — very faded — glamour as punters pass the time with a Carling waiting to go somewhere else.

The Midland is a quaint, fairly tame pub across the street from Liverpool’s Central Station, making it either impossible to miss, or extremely easy to overlook as you rush off to run your errands. If you’re a native of Liverpool, I’m guessing you’ve either never been in this pub or you’re in here all the time.
The architecture is interesting, as the walls of this 1800’s building curve around a corner, creating really cool window– booth seating inside.
My cousins and I popped in here one evening for a drink while waiting for someone to arrive in town. Although the pub was a little crowded, the general clientele were in the 30 – 50 age range, and were not loud and boisterous as can be the case in some pubs in the early evening. No bouncers here. (Although I do have to point out that one customer did ask one of my cousins if they wanted to buy something – I wasn’t sure if she was offering drugs or some tickets she was trying to get rid of, or what.)
We fought our way into the corner booth by the windows looking onto Ranelagh Street to sip our ale and vodka and cranberry (that would be me with the girly drink, as you will soon begin to guess from all my pub reviews.) Although they don’t serve cocktails, they will do their best to concoct something to your taste.

Opposite Central Station so it’s popular with Wirral Squirrels who are fresh off the train but don’t let that put you off, ha ha. It has been run by the same couple for many a year and although they only seem to recognise their friends, they do keep a clean well run pub even if some of the staff appear to be in absolute terror of ‘Mr &Mrs Happy’ otherwise known as the management. You get a good mix of clientelle mostly dressed for a night on the town but being a city pub there are a few characters too. Call in and enjoy as the start to a night in this quarter of the city, it does tend to empty after ten as people head towards the livlier venues.