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We live about 10 minutes away from The Anchor Inn, a cosy pub in Irby on the Wirral and over the years we’ve been for quite a few meals there. It was always the place I’d think of to go for a Sunday lunch in Wirral, with big roaring fires and a really scrumptious feel.

So when we were invited to the opening night in October and then again this January I was delighted to try out their new menu.

First off I need to say that the refurbishment at The Anchor Inn, Irby is fabulous. I love everything about what they’ve done. The colours, the fabrics and the general feel of the place is just a step up and shouts gastropub rather than a pub that you’d rock up to in your dirty jeans and boots. Given where it is though, close to lovely parks and lots of walks, and the type of pub it’s always been, I’m sure you’d still be welcome in your boots mud and all, but the feel of the place has definitely changed.

So did the quality of the food at The Anchor Inn match up to the new refurb and its new image?

Well I have to be honest and say that when we visited on press night it didn’t. Quite a lot of things weren’t right and we were disappointed BUT a soft opening is just that a soft opening and you shouldn’t write somewhere off because of one experience, so we went back to try again in January and I’m so glad we did because we loved it.

We chose to visit on a Sunday as I always loved the Sunday roasts in the Anchor Inn so thought that should be what we tried again. I had a three meat Sunday roast, for those people who can never choose which meat they want. It had pork, chicken and beef, together with stuffing rolled in bacon, a Yorkshire pudding, roast veg and three large roast potatoes that I couldn’t manage as there was so much! It was £17.95.

I thought the kids would go for the kids Sunday Roast which is also available on a Sunday on the kids menu, but they in fact went for Chicken strips and chips x 2 and Mac & Cheese with an additional portion of fries! They all enjoyed their main courses, which are all a reasonable £5.95 plus £2.95 for dessert. You can see the children’s menu at The Anchor Inn, Irby here.

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Hubby perhaps predictably went for the steak and chips which he really enjoyed although both our starters – mushrooms for him and my lobster and crab bonbons with scallops were probably just in the OK category.

More than anything though what we really enjoyed was the feel of the place and the warmness of the staff. It’s definitely somewhere that we would go back to for a Sunday lunch or to have one of the Anchor’s hearty pub meals. Hearty British cuisine is something they always did so well, and still do so for me, whilst I love the idea of their new menu and all that brings with it, I’ll stick to their good old fashioned pub food please!

Thanks to the Anchor Inn for hosting us both times and for the Wirral to treating us to this sky as we left!