Cask and Tap
Johnny James, Managing Editor
Looking for craft beer and real ale in Blackpool? Cask and Tap won’t disappoint, pouring from six taps and eight casks, forever in rotation.
Tucked in the heart of the town centre, just around the corner from the Winter Gardens, this little gem opened in the fateful year of 2020, thankfully surviving the pandemic to become one of Blackpool’s best independent bars. Flooded with natural light, it’s a friendly, sociable place that goes back to basics – no jukebox, no TV, just great beer and (potentially great) conversation. This dedication to the cause isn’t going unnoticed, with CAMRA championing Cask and Tap in its Good Beer Guide.
It’s a beautiful, homely bar, all wooden panels and brass fixtures, with some more esoteric design flourishes like the 50s and 60s electrical test equipment that lines the tiled walls. Before we park ourselves at one of the beer barrel tables, we eye up the board. Clearly, this is a place where connoisseurs delight in working their way through the menu via samples, as we find all prices are given for full and half pint measures.
Plonk this place in a city centre and you get the sense that it’d be a beacon for the oft-caricatured, moustache-twizzling side of the beer-drinking community, but being in Blackpool, the bar and its clientele feel completely unpretentious – not an Insta reel in sight (heck, the bar doesn’t even have its own Instagram page). Just local pals chatting over exceptional beer.
And the prices reflect this down to earth feel of the place. Having travelled over from Manchester, we’re thrilled to see city prices undercut by about two pounds a pint, which is really quite considerable. It also gets a big tick for being fully accessible as well as being dog friendly, should walkies on the beach leave you hankering after a cold one.
All of this adds up to one of the best bars in Blackpool, and a guaranteed win for any craft beer and real ale enthusiasts.
