The White Lion Inn — Restaurant in Wirral

Update May 2023: First visit for a year or so. The cask ale is still unremarkable (I tried 3), still stale and still stored under a CO2 aspiration system, much better quality cask ales are available locally further down the hill, I'm thinking the West Kirby Tap et al. On the plus side, the bar staff were very pleasant.

Update January 2022. It's been several years since my original unfavourable review of The White Lion, since when the pub has changed hands, so a further visit was in order. The welcome from the bar staff couldn't have been more different, a big smile, very impressive. The interior was very cosy and agreeably quiet, even though there were a good few customers present. The cask ales were OK, but the first sip revealed the presence of the dreaded CO2 cask aspiration system (designed to prevent ale oxidation and thus preserve cask contents beyond their 3 or 4-day natural lifespan). After 4 or so days, It makes the ale taste bland but still drinkable, it is instantly recognisable (to my palate at least). For this reason, I've knocked one star off from what would have been a five-star review.

Original review: Probably the most unwelcoming bar staff I have ever had the misfortune not to be served by. We left soon...

This used to be a favourite pub of mine for many years. Unfortunately on Saturday 8th August 2020 I was in there with my daughter who is disabled. She ordered us drinks from a barman called Paul. To our astonishment he said “I am not serving you because you are drunk” I explained that she had experienced a brain injury which affected her speech and she wasn’t drunk. He said “How do I know she has had a brain injury” I told him I was her mother and that I know she has. He then said “How do I know you are her mother” it was such a shock as we were, up to that point, enjoying ourselves. We were sitting quietly and it came out of the blue. The manager Helen came over to me asking me to sit down and wanted to talk. I felt she was also aggressive as she was pinning me down by standing in my way of leaving. My daughter had already moved to leave with her walking stick and was waiting for me to follow her. I told her why I was angry and asked her to bring Paul over to talk. She didn’t apologise and was just trying to shut me up and was protecting Paul. We left and went to Weatherspoons and without any bother got a drink there before going home. Such bad behaviour I still...

I had a very negative experience today when i visited the White Lion pub with some of my friends. We went out into the garden bit and sat down and ordered some soft drinks. We were immediately verbally abused by this vicious rude old woman who appeared to be a manager of some sort, or at least wanted to be. We were asked to present ID even though we were drinking Diet Coke? She then went on to practically throw us out of the pub, bare in mind it was also only 6pm therefore there was no reason to abuse and throw out a small group of 17-18 year olds. I was disgusted at this treatment as we were given no reason as to why we had to leave and this woman was EXTREMELY rude and disrespectful despite us being willing to provide service to the pub. Since when is ID required for a soft drink? There was no need for this overt age discrimination, do not recommend this...