Does Ma Kellys need much of an introduction? Well, maybe if you’ve not been out drinking in Blackpool much before but if you have, the chances are you’ve stumbled across (or at least out of…) a Ma Kellys at some point. There are a number of Ma Kellys across town, ‘Showboat’ furthest north in Bispham, ‘North’ near Blackpool North station, ‘Central’ near to Central pier and this one, ‘south’ which is spitting distance from our last pub, The Dog and Partridge. There are other Ma Kellys pubs across town (which we’ll mention later) but those listed are the ones of the same genre and have entertainment in one form or another running at periods throughout the day. Ma Kellys have live singers rotating between the venues each day and also DJs and Karaoke. The pubs are good day time drinkers pubs and popular with a range of ages, the songs you tend to get sung / played are all the old classics you hear around town, ‘the Nolans’ – I’m in the mood for dancing, ‘Monkees’ – Now I’m a believer and such like.
Ma Kellys are fab and really popular, a lot of people go and spend all day watching acts. Bar service is always excellent, we’ve never waited more than a minute or two even at the busiest of times, the entertainment is great, especially after a few as everyone knows the songs so it makes for a really good party atmosphere and they’re located across the town……. so make sure you visit one even if you’re not doing this particular pub run!
So, you know how we mentioned Ma Kellys have other pubs across town? ….well….. queue the next pub, only a minute up the road …………..
The New Albert (Lytham Road)
The New Albert (so called to break from the tired, old image of its predecessor) is another pub owned by Paul Kelly (of Ma Kellys fame) however this one caters for a slightly different ‘breed’ of drinker than your usual Ma Kellys, this one is a sports bar!
Pool table, snooker table, darts, TV screens and memorabilia lining the walls (though, we’re not sure if that’s all be taken down and relocated tbh) this is a pub more geared towards an afternoon with your mates than sitting watching your grandad sing ‘my way’ on karaoke for the third time. The pub gets a reasonable crowd in all year round and is particularly busy for big matches on TV or when Blackpool play at home. As with most venues on this pub run, this is a wet pub with limited food served (just your standard crisps and nuts etc) and isn’t one for the kids (though at this stage if you’d sneaked your kid in these venues you wouldn’t be winning parent of the year award any time soon and the kids may have picked up more swear words than a coal miner who has just be invited to dinner with Margret Thatcher!). Summary though, its a decent pub, especially for a pub run, if you have a crowd doing the run, they tend to break into smaller groups anyway and this one allows smaller groups to break nicely (whilst staying together as a whole) giving everyone a little break from ‘down it, down it’ type shenanigans. (that may be our introverted side revealing itself a bit there) 🙂
Next on the list again, spitting distance again, so don’t worry if you’re not all moving from pub to pub as a group …. I mean…. I’ve left my wife behind on this pub run before… 😉 …… is what we’d describe as a ‘hit and miss’ pub………
The Excelsior (Lytham Road)
The Excelsior is one of those pubs that used to be a social club but shut down and ended up reincarnated as a pub….. which does make you wonder why it shut down originally…. but I’m sure that’s an entirely different discussion and one not for this BLOG tbh……. and is one we find inconsistent. You can go and it be heaving and you can go the same time a week later and it be dead however, don’t let that pub you off, it’s a good venue. Spacious, decent service, TV screens with space to view at even the busiest of times and naturally….. darts and pool available.
This pub / bar is actually three floors though in practice, we’ve rarely seen the second floor used (functions mainly except when it first opened) and the third floor used to have a number of snooker tables on it……. we’re not even sure if that’s still there though as its changed owners a couple of times (we’ll check when things reopen).
This pub too is a wet pub, it did try doing food a few years back (which was pretty good actually) but demand wasn’t there so didn’t it last long so hopefully, you’ve had a bite to eat along the way from KFC or Subway etc….. if not, grab some nuts and head off to the next pub, again down Lytham Road but opposite side and about 2 minute walk (you’ve been spoilt with the 30 second walks so far)…. it’s the………
