This is a restaurant, where drinking alcohol, including draught and bottled beer, is only allowed when food is being consumed.
Refurbished and reopened in 2012 under its previous name, built in the 1820s for ferry passengers to Liverpool. The ferry terminal is long gone but there are excellent views over the Mersey. The many original features of the pub have been enhanced by the installation of a chandelier from the Cunard building, light fittings from the Adelphi Hotel and Lewis’s of Liverpool and a solid mahogany bar top which started life in the science block of Wirral Grammar School. The walls are full of period photos of the area in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Off the beaten track but well worth the effort, one central bar services two rooms. The house beer, HMS Conway 4.0%, is from Lees. The pub is cut off from the centre of Rock Ferry by the bypass so Rock Ferry station is 3/4 mile away on foot. Ample car parking on the road outside. Excellent quality reasonably priced meals served daily to 9pm. The focus has moved over recent years to food to such an extent that it is difficult to visit just for a drink and the pub has evolved into a restaurant.
Historic Interest
The pub dates back to at least 1822 when it was named the Rock but soon changed name to the Refreshment Rooms. For a short time in the 1880s it was known as the Royal Navy Hotel. Owned by Birkenhead Brewery it was used used by the ferry passengers to Liverpool until the ferry route closed in June 1939. One of the old photos is from 1903. The pub was renamed the Admiral in 1959, selling Whitbread Special Cask Bitter in 1980. After five years of closure it was refurbished and reopened as the Refreshment Rooms in 2012.
This Restaurant serves 1 changing beer and 1 regular beer.
Refreshment Rooms, Rock Ferry
Source: Local